It’s the time of year when the Turkey’s are all together, and I am not talking about the birds. I am talking about family. The holiday season is the season of giving…but, it can also be the season of giving up your sanity. Well, for some people like me.
I love my family more than anything. I am blessed to have an loving immediate family, as well as loving extended family that has grown over the years. My inlaws, my brother and sister-in-laws, and of course adorable neices and nephews add smiles and laughter to my life daily. We have a full brood, and when we are all under one roof over Thanksgiving it is well — INTERESTING to say the least!
This time last year we woke at 4 AM, my husband and I with 3 kids and traveled on the busiest day EVER to Chicago. We went from Boston cold – to colder. “Why?” I asked my husband constantly as we pushed through a line 6 miles long at Logan airport only to sit on top of one another at a crowded gate to embrace three hours on a plane with toddlers. Fun times. We then landed, crushed together in a car on top of suitcases en route to the family asylum – 25 people under one roof for four nights of Thanksgiving. I could not wait.
We always had an itinerary printed when we arrived, and it was a daily schedule that revolved around our eating. Wine Tasting Night, BBQ Night, Adult Night Out, and of course the amazing Thankgiving Day Feast where we started eating at 12 PM. I was always shocked I could fit in the seat on the plane ride home after all I consumed in four days.
We woke up each morning with 6 kids in our bed, little feet in our mouths, and Dora ringing in our ears. And as an early riser, somehow I was the only one that the kids dragged out of bed. Everyone else would fall back asleep through the madness. I would at times, find myself downstairs with 9 kids, flipping pancakes galore and creating the breakfast of champions. I would then become a referee for stolen toys, broken hide and seek rules, and unfair movie choices. I would have wounds from stepping on legos and baby doll limbs as I trampled from sofa to sofa trying to catch a break. And it was not even 8 AM.
While I did complain – as we all must admit we do when with famliy, l always enjoyed myself. It was four days of non-stop family time, and crazy time, but I LOVED EVERY MINUTE. We laughed until we cried. We told stories, we fought, and then we laughed again. It was like sitting on a life size lazy-susan that went around and around for four days of smiling until my face was sore from laughing so hard.
This is the first time in 6 years we are not traveling or with our immediate family. Because of schedules and just all around life, trips planned and all around daily stresses, we could not travel this season. We are lucky to have the most fabulous friends, who are like family, who are letting us crash their Thanksgiving Parade. However, today, as my three kids were out of school, and we sat around the house and played board games, relaxed, took naps, watched a movie and just layed low – I found myself missing the chaos called family.
Yes, there is something nice about taking a step back to relieve yourself of travel and holiday stress, and spend quality quiet time at home. But I was then stressed about not being stressed, and I missed the noise. I missed my neices and nephews screaming and singing at the top of their lungs. I missed the mess they made in the playrooms and kitchen that I felt the need to clean, although two minutes later it would have been back to disaster. That is ironic I know, because as mom’s we pray for our sanity — but how do we accept the calm when it happens? We can’t. We don’t! We want more….
Holiday is a time to embrace family, embrace the chaos and let the Turkey’s run wild. There are many different kinds of families and when you are surrounded by those you love that is all that matters. This holiday season, when there is so much sadness that surrounds us in the world’s happenings, we are lucky to be with the ones we love no matter where we are, and remember to reach out to the ones that are not physically next to you. Embrace the noise, embrace the chaos, and from BIG CITY MOMS….WE WISH ALL OF YOU THE HAPPIEST THANKGIVING EVER!