Wednesday, December 15, 2010

If not for Christmas, by New Year's night

On Saturday, we went to an awesome Christmas party hosted by a wonderful organization, Child S.H.A.R.E. - http://childshare.org/, whose ministry is to spread the word about adoption and fostering in churches, to believers, and supporting families who are fostering and adopting. Over the years, we were always going to go to the party but some mishap always happened. This year, praise the Lord, we made it. I'm so glad we did because after hearing Jory's tales of meeting Santa, Rowan had been asking me if she and the baby could meet Santa too.

I don't know what I was imagining, but it definitely wasn't what I saw. Wait, that didn't sound right. It was better than anything I could have imagined. A wonderful helper helped us find a table to sit at as everyone sang Christmas songs and signed. After singing a rousing song which included a line that wished Jesus, a happy birthday, Santa arrived.

A short while after Santa's arrival, we thought we were standing in the food line, but it turned out to be the Santa picture line. The kids were excited. They couldn't wait to meet Santa, to take a picture with him. I was ready armed with my camera.

Unlike other families, I decided this should be a kid only Santa picture. Walking the baby I was carrying over to Santa, as Rowan and Jory eagerly posed next to him and chatted him up, I discovered the baby was having none of it.

"No, Mommy!" she voiced loudly, as she clung to me. She wasn't about to let me dump her in the lap of the man whom she pointed out in pictures, figurines, dolls. The man whose name she constantly cried out excitedly as we stood in line and when she heard Santa was coming.

I was surprised, shocked by her behavior. She, out of all my children, is the fearless one. The photograph positioned the other two kids and said to me, "On the count of three put her in the picture."

I wasn't sure I heard her correctly, then she counted to three and she said, "Put her in."

I ran to put Layla on Santa's lap, but Layla wasn't feeling it. Once again she vocalized her dislike of the "man" holding her. So the photographer snapped the other two with the man with the beard and amazingly for the first time ever, Rowan actually smiled in the photo. Rowan never smiles in pictures. Maybe it was Santa or hopefully she's finally coming out of her shell and my Easter/birthday pictures won't have a little girl with tears in her eyes or looking like she just cried in them for the first time ever. Or a girl sucking her thumb. Please Lord let the smiling stick.

The photographer downloaded our picture to the printer and within a manner of minutes I had the adorable picture my two older babies took.

Then the party assistant came to me and asked, "Do you want to try it again?"

I had thought about it, but the baby was not listening to reason and was refusing to take a picture with the "man." But maybe they knew of a way that I hadn't thought of.

The photographer walked up to the baby and said, "Santa is not going to touch you, talk to you, or look at you. You're going to sit in your mommy's lap."

This woman spoke the baby's language. How many times has the baby said to her siblings or her siblings to her, "Don't look at me. Don't talk to me. She/He touched me."? And when you ask Layla my name she answers, "My Mommy." Loving what the photograper was saying, I was allowed to sit next to Santa with her on my lap, though she did keep her back to him. Quickly the photographer took the picture. Upon seeing this, Rowan and Jory rushed back to the sleigh to be in the picture and we took a family shot.

While this was a Christmas party, it never occurred to me to dress the kids in their Christmas outfits. Obviously I had on my Christmas attire courtesy of Chi Chi's gift one year of a green reindeer t-shirt and my Christmas earrings, but the kids only had red on by luck of the draw. On Black Friday, I bought the Irish twins some matching outfits and the tops happened to be red. And after seeing the girls both in red, I put Jory in a red top though I had considered putting him in a green one since his red one wouldn't be matching the girls. But ultimately red reigned for Jory. The family shot turned out nicely, but it would have been nicer had I had on a red top too because right now, I'm the green shirt wearing woman who is randomly holding one of the three obvious siblings in the pic. Oh well, next year the Lord willing we'll go to the party again and we'll be dressed correctly. And maybe next Christmas the baby won't be afraid of the "man."

After the wonderful party, we went to swimming lessons. Rowan was back to screaming as Mr. Will taught her how to jump in the pool. So her screaming caused the baby to start crying. I'm amazed Rowan doesn't crack glass with those piercing screams of hers. Swimming finally concluded and during the dressing process the kids underwent a change and emerged non-listening children. The highlight of dinner being...

"Layla, if you don't stop it, I will remove you from the table."

"No, you won't."

It's so sad when two-year-olds lose the good minds God gives them. So I had to pick her up and show her what happens when we go crazy. She wasn't happy to be laying on the bed, especially when I said no to her request to get up after being on the bed for less than a minute.

Dinner became a don't talk affair because I was about to go crazy. And all thoughts of decorating the Christmas tree died. I just wanted everyone bathed, dressed for bed, and asleep as quickly as humanly possible.

Ah, children they take you to such peaks and valleys.

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