Phone Call From My Kids

                                    
My kids go to their dad's the first 3 weekends of the month. They often complain that they didn't really do anything on Saturday and were bored. Since my oldest has a cell phone, I remind them that it is perfectly ok to call me since I rarely work on Saturdays anymore.
Yesterday, the oldest child decided to do just that. I had a great conversation with him about the books that he likes to read and the dinner that they had with their dad the night before. (Did you know Macaroni Grill has pepperoni bigger pepperoni on their pizza than Subway has on their sandwiches?) After about 30 minutes of talking to my oldest child, the other kids realized who he was talking to and wanted to talk, too. I, then, was able to talk to them for a while about what they had been doing that morning and the books they enjoyed reading and other things that they wanted to talk about.
By the time I got off the phone, I had been on the phone for about 45 minutes, but it didn't feel like more than 5 or 10 minutes. I am so glad that my oldest decided to call me and the others wanted to talk to me as well. It is amazing how those sweet children can brighten a day where I was sucked in by current events. I am truly blessed to be their mom.

Christmas Books

To bring the spirit of Christmas into my home this year, I am using my story time with the kids to read Christmas stories. So far I have read one chapter book (a chapter per night) and two other stories. The chapter book we read was AWESOME! The final chapter had me teary eyed and brought a beautiful spirit into the home. This book was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We got it as a family gift years ago, but I had never read it completely. I saw the movie years ago, but didn't really remember it other than the goofy stuff in it. I am so glad that I found it while cleaning and decided to share it with my kids. I hope to be able to find more books that can bring the same spirit through out the month.

An Early Christmas

I have to share my kids. It is not the best or most fun way to live, but it is the reality of no longer being married to my kids' father. This year is his turn to have the kids on Christmas. A reality that...well...sucks. I told the kids that they were getting to spend Thanksgiving at home this year because they were going to be with Daddy for Christmas quite a while ago.
Last weekend the reality of them not being here on Christmas day hit me and made me start thinking of ways to still make the season special as well as trying to figure out when we were going to be able to celebrate Christmas (working in the service industry means that I have to work Christmas Eve). After talking it over with my husband, we agreed that December 23rd would work best. It is a Sunday meaning neither of us has to work, and we will be going to church and being filled with Christmas messages (a great way to remind the kids what Christmas is really about).
I explained this to the kids a few nights ago and suggested that Eric write a letter to Santa to request that he make one exception this year and stop by 2 nights early. My poor sweet Eric had tear welling up in his eyes. He was fine with writing the letter and even left room for his brother and sister to sign. As I looked it over and told him what a great job he did, he started crying. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that he didn't want to go anywhere for Christmas. He just wanted to be home. This melted my heart. I looked into my sweet 10-year-old's face and told him that could understand that, but his daddy loves him too and it is his turn. I don't know if it really made him feel any better. It is moments like that thought that I just want to say, "Then you can stay home if that is what you want." I can't. I have to share. Being a grown-up is hard sometimes.