Christmas Bloopers!!

This festive time of the year brings to mind wonderful memories of Christmas’ past – memories of holiday traditions, cherished moments with loved ones and friends, and then you have those memories of events that just make you look back with laughter, those memories that make you realize that no matter how hard we try to make everything perfect in preparation for the holidays, sometimes life just throws us a curve. And, at the time it might not have been funny, but it sure is when you start to remember it. Just writing this put a smile on my face and let me relive some pretty funny moments.

It was always a tradition in our home when the kids were young to set aside that one, special day for putting up the Christmas tree, decorating and baking. The Christmas carols would ring loudly through the house and the kids and I would sing along. Well, we decided to buy a live tree that year as we had always had an artificial one. So, with anticipation and excitement, we went and picked the perfect tree, brought it home and began to set it up. Unfortunately, the tree trunk did not want to cooperate with the tree stand and so my husband worked diligently for quite some time, cutting and sawing. All the while the kids and I waited in anticipation to start placing the lights and pretty bulbs on the tree. The sounds of BE Taylor Christmas were blasting in the background and then, the next thing I know, my husband takes the tree through the living room and throws it off the deck! He had had it…it just wouldn’t go in the stand. He was completely frustrated, I started crying and the kids were laughing hysterically. What happened to my perfect day? What about the tradition? After the adults calmed down, we retrieved the tree from the backyard and calmly went back to the task and finally, that tree went in the stand and it was upright!

Another year, we had the bright idea to tie string to our ceiling fan and have a Christmas bow dangling from the end thinking that it would be a neat play toy for our kitty. Cats like to have fun during the holidays too, right? We flip the power switch to the ceiling fan and next thing we know, the string tightly winds around the motor and burns it out. So much for that idea… the kitty lost his toy, but Momma got a new ceiling fan for Christmas.

Last year, I was attempting a new recipe, Oreo balls, and the recipe called for the addition of baking wax to some other ingredients to make the icing. Well, I didn’t have any wax and really dreaded the idea of going to the grocery store, so I figured I would compromise and use vegetable oil in lieu of baking wax. I proceeded to microwave the concoction thinking I was pretty smart and saving time and the next thing I know, the microwave starts throwing off sparks. I reached inside the microwave to retrieve the bowl and the kitchen started to fill with gray smoke. Not sure what to do, I put the bowl outside on the deck and watched it smolder. The kids were laughing hysterically and, of course, I wasn’t a happy camper. That wasn’t supposed to happen; everything’s supposed to be perfect, right?! Next thing, I hear my son say, “Moms baking again,” and that brought me to laughter. So, me being the persistent, never give up type of person that I am, I went to the grocery store and started over. And yes, the Oreo Balls were delicious! Lesson learned.

The morale of the story, although we want everything to be just so-so, is that we need to remember to relax and take the good with the “unexpected” during this very busy season. Treasure all the memories and enjoy the “bloopers,” as those are the ones that bring laughter and will put a smile on your face for years to come.

Merry Christmas, All!

 

This festive time of the year brings to mind wonderful memories of Christmas’ past – memories of holiday traditions, cherished moments with loved ones and friends, and then you have those memories of events that just make you look back with laughter, those memories that make you realize that no matter how hard we try to make everything perfect in preparation for the holidays, sometimes life just throws us a curve. And, at the time it might not have been funny, but it sure is when you start to remember it. Just writing this put a smile on my face and let me relive some pretty funny moments.

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