Was it a recipe for schedule disaster?
Combine:
four children
two months
three different fall sports
parental permission
Fold into a busting schedule of three Bible studies, two piano lessons, two youth groups {one of which my husband and I serve as youth group leaders}, AWANA club, and worship team practice.
Place mixture within a limited 24 hour day, seven days a week time frame.
Allow to simmer.
Remember to breathe.
Yes, we knowingly permitted three children to join three different sports leagues which were simultaneously happening over a two month period. This was in addition to other commitments.
And as you can imagine, it was chaos!
As the fall sports season has ended and we ease into the holiday season, we are making a conscious effort to slow the pace and savor the moments.
While activities can offer many benefits, let us not forget the benefit of just being together as a family. Whether we are trimming the tree, making cookies, sipping hot cocoa, playing a board game, watching a holiday movie, or just talking, time spent together is never wasted.
This holiday season, our family will say no to some really good out of the house activities in order to say yes to a better thing: our family. For we want all of us to have memories of being at home together, enjoying one another's company. And, you can't create these family moments when you are running here and there.
We have no illusions of perfect family moments. There will probably be no Norman Rockwell Christmas scenes at our house. That picture of the table inserted above* is from a museum! As lovely as it is, no one will actually sit there gathered about the table. There will be no spilled gravy on the table cloth. Children won't tear into those packages.
In fact, at our real, lived in house I'm sure someone will spill cocoa all over the floor or someone will sneeze into the cookie batter {it's happened before}. There might even be some bickering {your house, too?} However, we aren't expecting picture perfect family moments. We want our own real messy family memories to warm our hearts this holiday season and for years to come.
~ Dorie
*Christmas table setting from this post from my homeschool blog.
