Mama PlaygroundA Blog for Moms

Christmas has become magical again. When I was young, I was a believer in Santa Claus. The season was magical and I remember pajamas, tired parents, a sea of wrapping paper, and mid afternoon naps due to overstimulated exhaustion. Now I am the tired parent and most of the rest remains just as joyful, but from a different perspective. I can not imagine starting the day without the help of our auto-timed coffee start. Egg nog in the coffee is a must, and then of course a cookie to get the blood sugar going. The kids have messy hair and huge, sweet smiles, and they tumble on to the presents as if the tree had a magnet.

One child is happy to just play with a single box for the day. Another makes claim to every single present opened in an ongoing stream of “mine!”. Another wanders around the house, drunk on the joy of the day and content to watch the happenings and occasionally climb in to a cupboard or on to a lap.

The major dangers include: the wrapping paper, the tiny little ties and tags on EVERY single gift, the oven while the delicious holiday food cooks, the stairs, the bathroom door left ajar, off-schedule naps, over-stimulation, batteries, food and/or beverages left about, candies and their wrappers, the tree, the fireplace, ornaments, lights, etc.

Exhausted by 7pm parents everywhere collapse in a puddle of over-stuffed holiday bliss after the day’s efforts are done. It feels so good to make the kiddos  so happy. I have taught them about giving, about Jesus being born, and about sharing. And to all a goodnight!

Among the many,  many ways I have changed since becoming a mother I may have completely divorced sushi. There are so many things that you become trained to avoid if you followed the so-called rules of pregnancy. After the baby is born though, many of those things just seem generally bad and undesirable now. Red-40, standing near a microwave in action, and now sushi. I thought I would jump at the opportunity to be back on sushi. I thought I would overcompensate at the opportunity to suck down some squishy raw fish.

My husband and I went on a date night the other day. We overflow with affection and conversation when the opportunity arises and it was a great time. Until a few hours after we got home and the stomach discomfort started. To spare some unsightly details, we both realized the sushi may have done us in. Would I take back date night? No. I will perhaps recall the sushi cravings and curb them permanently.

Our young cousin (he is 2) just had a tape worm removed from his system. It was several feet long (obviously much longer than him). His parents had been eating sushi with him and apparently a parsite from the uncooked food found his intestines to be a perfectly accommodating home. Yuck. Apparently he was not alone. I looked it up and I have no idea why I did not know this before.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/GlobalHealth/story?id=7847413&tqkw=&tqshow=&page=1

It turns out that explaining Christmas for the first time to a little one is more complicated than I thought. There is a larger cast of characters than I remembered. There are the elves, Mrs. Claus, Saint Nick, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Wise Men, and the reindeer to name a few. Then of course you have to cover advent calendars, Christmas Eve, Jesus’ birthday, the use of a chimney, how sleds fly, why we see Santa all over town, who carries the presents, who makes the presents, and why we all get presents on when it is a birthday party for Jesus.

Poor kid. I hope I didn’t confuse her. Does anyone have a good book recommmendation because I may not have nailed it on the explaination…

Then there are the tedious details. They are not Raindeer, they are reindeer and I am not sure why. Santa Claus & St. Nick are the same person. Not sure why he delivers presents for Jesus on his birthday. I don’t know why the elves make the presents but need someone else to deliver them. Santa can fly because of the sled…because of the reindeer…no, I don’t know why the reindeer can fly. Why does Santa choose the chimney? Sigh, parents should be given a few more handbooks when they check you out of the hospital upon the birth of your child. How to Explain… should be one of them