Our Moment

I feel dishonest claiming these holidays were more harried than most. Let’s be real; I will always manage to work my panicky personality into a sizable tizzy come every end of December. But there were a few extras that added to the excitement this go around.

While we avoided the plague that touched down last Christmas, my husband caught a nasty cold on the eve of our ginormous holiday party…and didn’t get better for another 2 weeks. Oh what fun.

The Christmas tree spent some time hanging out on the floor, which, while a fun new take on the traditional upright stance, wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

My daughter celebrated Christmas Day itself with a sudden nasty stomach bug that left her puking…while we were riding in the minivan for 4 hrs. Over the river and through the woods…

Oh, and my sister had her baby. And I’m still beaming.

And I’m still tired, a little weary and surrounded by mountains of Christmas decorations. But you know what? Add all this stuff together and what do you have? The perfect Christmas.

What?? I know, but really…

You see, I can spend hours and days fretting over how we will conceivably get everything done, how impossible schedules will sort. But a while ago I learned the best way to know that you can walk through a fiery, challenging moment is to walk through it. Any burns you pick up along the way are boss reminders that you were strong–and that the love and blessings remain constant.

Our moment of trickiness began at 3am the day before my niece was born, the same day that my husband took ill and the day before our party. We got the call that my sister was in labor. Too hyped to go back to sleep, I got up. Determined to start tackling my day on the right foot, I took my vitamins. It was then I realized that in my blurry state I had mistakenly taken my sleep medication instead.

Super.

I now had a party to prep for, a sick husband, sleeping children, a sister in labor, and had just taken a sedative that would wear off in approximately 7 hours. I was DELIGHTED with myself.

And this is when my husband shone. This is where I saw strength shine in our moment.

Knowing I needed to be with my sister, we all packed up and went to the hospital. As it turns out, the poor dear found herself in a 30 hour labor, so we did have to make a few trips back and forth to home, but in the end, my niece was born, I was there, and my husband readied the entire house for the party himself. My hero.

In the midst of this, in the middle of the the second night, I heard him answer a call from my brother-in-law announcing that my sister’s labor was progressing. As I listened to my husband offer cheerful encouragement and support, artfully masking the tiredness in his voice, I felt so grateful to have this close family and for the love covering this moment.

People had fun at the party, shockingly despite my decision to abandon my fancy crab rolls (yes, I failed Pinterest that night). And when a very dear friend bailed me out by making amazing soft pretzels and others offered help and sweet congratulations on my new aunt status, I was surrounded by warmth in our moment.

As I cuddled the new baby on Christmas morning, my heart leapt with awe. When we finally landed at my father’s girlfriend’s house and all kindly welcomed my sick daughter cuddled up on the couch (nope, not awkward at all), I could have focused on the puke bucket sitting by the Christmas tree, but instead, I was simply blessed in our moment.

I can often fuss over what my life is not or what we’re missing, but the truth is, through this Christmas, in all it’s chaotic mess, with the people I cherish most in this world, I felt strong. I felt loved. I felt warmth. I felt blessed.

Fiery moments aren’t really a bad thing at all; after the smoke clears, your vision is a whole lot clearer.

First image credit: image ID:28788529, copyright:Maridav

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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