Blink

This morning, we all got up and went to church.  Well...not all of us.  Big was at an overnight birthday party and Middle was also away with a friend. So Coach, Little and I all headed out to church.  And as we left, I looked over our freshly cleaned, neatly straightened Christmas decor.  It made me smile.  After all...It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!...right?

So why...if it is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...do I feel like I have so much to do?  And I am on a time schedule to do it?  As of Thanksgiving...I had exactly one month until Christmas Day.  ONE MONTH!  To do the cleaning, the decorating, the shopping, the wrapping, the card making, the card addressing/stamping/mailing, the baking, the hosting, the party throwing, the cooking, the practicing, more shopping, more wrapping, more cleaning...

AAAACK!

I can't take it anymore!  We spent approximately 6 hours cleaning, and decorating this house for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  And finally, Coach stopped me and said...

How about you go take a shower, and we take Little out for dinner...just the three of us.  I'll finish doing the things that you want to get done and let's just stop for today.  This mess will still be here tomorrow...and we can finish then.

Okay, so I might have ad-libbed a bit there, but that was his point.  All day, he had been volunteering to help in any way he could.  Carrying boxes...cleaning toilets and doing laundry.  And the more I decorated, the bigger mess I made.  The bigger mess I made, the more frustrated I became.  The more frustrated I became, the less fun I was having getting ready for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  And so...

I scrubbed one last shower...and then I went and got ready.  We loaded up with Little in his too short pants and his super cute Converse tennis shoes (wearing his buzz light year backpack) and off we went.  We ate at one of our favorite places (Red Robin) and came home to watch a movie.  I wasn't feeling well...the aftermath of Black Friday Shopping in below freezing weather..so we spent an evening together at home.  And the night went from not so wonderful...to perfect. 

Coach reminded me that life moves too quickly for us to get bogged down by time restraints and restrictions.  And then...as God would have it, we heard a song on the way to dinner that proved his point exactly.

It is called...Blink. (by Revive)

I added it to my playlist and you should be hearing it as you read this post.

As we go into this Holiday Season...we have a choice to make it frustrating...rushed...disappointing...and self driven.

Or...we can slow down.

We can truly make it The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  By taking the time to enjoy every moment we have with the ones that we love.  By taking the time to enjoy the music of the season...the joy that we bring to one another...the gift that was given to us so long ago.

Thank you Coach...for making me slow down...just in time.  I feel like at the pace I was going, I would blink and it would be over.  It is my hope that I can take it day by day and spend as much of it being grateful for the gift of our Family. 

Have A Blessed Day!
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