Thursday, November 29, 2007

How did our parents do it?

I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Maybe it's the relentless over-commercialism. The 47 catalogs I get a day screaming at me about "Gift Ideas!" The fact that Target had all their Christmas stuff up the day after Halloween.

I'm not a Scrooge, by any means. But I'm having a very hard time motivating myself to get the house picked up to the point where we can actually put up a Christmas tree.

Of course, I want to. When S and I were by ourselves, I put up a Christmas tree every year. Then the Christmas I was pregnant with KB, I didn't have the energy. KB's first Christmas, I didn't have the energy or the time. Plus we had celebrated Christmas at Thanksgiving with my family, because we were flying to India on Christmas day.

Last Christmas, we spent the holidays in Arkansas with my family, so we weren't going to be around much to enjoy a Christmas tree.

But this year, I want to restart the tradition. I want KB to come downstairs every morning to see the sparkling lights on the tree. I want him to take part in hanging ornaments on the branches. He deserves to have the Christmas magic that all little kids feel when they anticipate Christmas morning and Santa Claus.

I just...can't find the energy. I know I need to suck it up and do it. And it's probably going to be just me. S has never participated in putting up or decorating the tree. I guess I can't blame him, since he didn't grow up celebrating the holiday. But still. Can't he do it, or help, for KB's sake?

What S doesn't understand is that when I have to do all the everyday chores, that leaves precious little time or energy left over for the bigger tasks. Like the decluttering he desperately wants me to do. Like decorating the house for Christmas.

If he would just help me, for crying out loud, then maybe I wouldn't feel so hopeless about getting things done.

Ugh. I am sure my mom went through this. I can't remember my dad being an active participant in decorating our house/tree for Christmas either. And he sure didn't help around the house!

So how did my mom do it, with 3 small kids (or even with 1 or 2 small kids, when pregnant with another)? We always had a tree; we always had decorations. My mom cooked dinner every night, kept up with all the regular chores, and still had time to bake Christmas cookies.

And the Christmas that I was 5 years old, my dad built me a dollhouse and my mom MADE just about every piece of furniture that went into it.

For the life of me, I just can't figure out how she managed all of it.

1 comment:

Maryam said...

Well, I think part of the problem is you have a couple of uterine dwellers right now, which doesn't double the exhaustion of pregnancy, but rather amplifies it by 10.

My thoughts are just because they didn't grow up doing it doesn't mean they can't participate, especially when it's of importance to you. Oh, and get the shatterproof ornaments. I'm finding ours all over the house because some little boy just can't leave them alone.