memories...

this afternoon john and i had the opportunity to go to marina's school to help with making gingerbread houses...

 

something so simple yet the kids were all thrilled... graham crackers, licorice,  marshmallows, fruit loops, peppermints, skittles, gumballs, gingerbread men, snow caps, and gumdrops galore...

the children got to decorate a sugar cone tree with frosting and a milk carton house with graham crackers and royal icing...

 

 

they had the best time... kept running back up to get more candies to decorate with... each so proud of their creation...

there were so many parents and grandparents there that it really warmed my heart... i'm sure all of us are just so thankful to be able to have this time with our children... making memories...

 

this christmas season, i have been stressed, as many moms out there are, trying to get it all done... we feel the need to be super in all that we do... and while i love to have things just so, and gifts wrapped a certain way, christmas cards mailed on time and try to make my vision for the perfect holiday transpire, i am realizing that there are some things that i just need to let go of...

 

maybe if my ornaments are clustered more toward the front of the tree because the girls are the ones who hung them... embrace it and let it be...

 

maybe if i haven't had the time to get hardly any shopping done because i've been home with sick ones... it's ok... it'll get done...

 

maybe if my snicker doodles for my cookie exchange are not homemade like i had hoped, but from the cookie dough fundraiser tubs... it'll be alright...

 

maybe if, once again, i am up past midnight on christmas eve wrapping gifts... i'll know that the looks on my girls faces in the morning will make me forget that i wasn't organized enough to wrap them sooner...

 

the bottom line is, in the wake of all that has just happened... we need to really embrace the little moments... for those are the ones that really matter... 

 

i'm sure that in the big scheme of things, what marina will remember is john and i being at her school today with her while she built her adorable gingerbread house... our children are not aware of our daily lists to get things done, of our pressures to have things be just right, but what they are aware of is time spent... time spent with them is what they will remember most...

 

so this christmas season, spend time together, laugh, make some wonderful new memories that your families will never forget... and if that includes eating snicker doodles from a tub of cookie dough, and cut-outs that don't have perfectly piped on frosting... so be it... love that family of yours and let the other things go :) 

 

have a happy day~

angie