Thankfully, today was the day. The break. From the moment I opened my eyes this morning, I knew I had to grab my chance. Nothing HAD to get done. Nothing was burning a hole on my list. So, I decided to give myself the day off. No list. No chores. No pressure. No guilt for not accomplishing enough. Day OFF!
And I must say, it was fabulous...
I was up at 6:00 a.m. and read the entire Sunday paper. By myself. No one disassembling the entire paper to get at the funnies, or grabbing the toy section out of the Target ad. It was just me, the Strib and my coffee. (I even had a second cup with half and half - not milk! Talk about joy!!)
About 8:00 a.m, I heard movement coming from Henry & Anna's room, so I bolted upstairs and headed them off at the pass. We all crawled back under the blankets to wake up together. Finally Anna's stomach rumbled and she said "I want breakfast." So, we made blueberry muffins. With lots of sprinkles. A day off deserves sprinkles.
We watched Toy Story 3 at 10:30 a.m. (A Sunday morning movie. Is that pure luxury or what?) Then we elf'ed ourselves for a good hour. And we laughed a lot.
After lunch, the kids took a bath without complaint. (small miracle). Once they were soaped, dried, moussed and lotioned, Henry and Anna got dressed up and we had ourselves a little holiday photo shoot. For an entire half hour, the kids posed. Yes, my kids!! Posed!! I got the holiday shot I wanted early on, but I kept snapping anyway. Who knows when I'd get the chance again...
For the rest of the afternoon, the kids and I colored and did art projects, while Ray cooked an entire pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the fixings. It was amazing. We had this huge fabulous meal, and I didn't lift a finger to make it. And, I didn't feel guilty at all...well hardly.
As I cleaned the kitchen after dinner (that only seemed fair...), Anna danced and twirled and sang around me. Clearly, cleaning up with company is so much better than doing it alone.
In the evening, we all cuddled on the couch, watched another movie and ate ice cream. At one point, I noticed Anna was giving me the stare down from across the room. Like a really intense stare-down. She was clearly contemplating something. Suddenly she hopped off her chair, pounced on me, and planted a big kiss right on my lips. "I love you mommy" she said. It was out of nowhere. It was one of those mama moments I won't soon forget....
After the movie, we read books, and got ready for bed without incident or revolt. Everyone went to sleep peacefully. Before I knew it, the day was over.
I guess good things happen when I relax and give up the list for a bit.
This day was perfection. (may I have another, please???)
--------------------
Because a blog post really isn't any good without a picture or two, here is a sneak peek from our photo shoot. I'm not going to give too much away, but I'm happy to report that my card was sent off to Shutterfly for processing tonight. (okay, okay...so I did cross one thing off the list...)
No comments:
Post a Comment