Music to My Ears

To all you mothers out there:  you must share my joy.  I have been feeling it recently.  In the past few days I have experienced some moments of "mom euphoria".  This happens when something you have been trying to teach, or something you only dreamed would happen, actually does happen.  In these mom-phoria moments, you must immediately post it to your blog and share with the world.

Mom-phoria #1:  I have a child that can properly AND correctly wrap Christmas presents.  AND all said presents are under the tree WITH HAND TIED BOWS ON THEM.  No gift has excessive tape either.  Hospital corners on every box.

I must pause because I have teared up a little.

Mom-phoria #2:  captured on digital image today:

This child is cleaning her room AND VACUUMING without being told to do this task.

Someone is going to have to do CPR on Scott after he sees this one.  I guess that will be me :)

I did not think I could be any prouder of either of my girls, but yet again, I am wrong.

Parenting has its privileges, and I have two of them.

I must remember these mom-phoria moments before it is time for them to do the dishes or fuss about their homework.

Nested

Something kind of remarkable happened today.

I was at home - alone - and I felt relaxed.

Shocker!

The past several months have been a seemingly endless barrage of responsibilities/events that have been a burden on this poor gal.  As I was contemplating my every-other-day trip to the grocery store where I prepare yet another dish for some responsibility/event, I realized that today was my only moment of peace this weekend. The revolving door of guest entertaining/church obligations/ work obligations/ necessary service events/ school obligations has left me feeling quite spent.  Overwhelmed.  Numb.

But today, for a couple of hours, I got to poke around in the basement, looking for Christmas ribbons.  There was no schedule pressing me for those few hours.  No preparations for me to make - for those few hours.  No decisions other than matching either the hounds tooth ribbon or the plaid wired ribbon with the green wrapping paper.  I did not have to decorate a classroom, a dining table, a craft project for church.  Nothing.  Nada.

I even skipped my workout today, because the obligation of getting to the Y felt like another scheduled burden.

Needless to say, my day of silence was over almost as soon as it began.  But it felt great.  And I went to the grocery store for the third time this week with a smile on my face because I felt lighter because of it.

Tomorrow, it will be back to the usual routine.  Meetings have been arranged, plans have been made, calories will be consumed in the course of all of this.  I will lose my nested feeling, I know, but now there are beautiful presents under my tree and my daughters are giddy with anticipation.  And when more guests arrive, as they always do, I will smile thinking about my next day of nesting.  Whenever that will be...

Commercial Happiness

The World of Coke beckoned to us:  come in, buy our stuff, see what it is like to be a happy American.   So we went.

It is a fun, festive place.  At Christmas, everything is decorated beautifully.  The polar bear is there for photos, and he is an awesome mascot.  Memorabilia is everywhere.  People from all over the world are there, speaking their native languages, making you feel like it's a small world after all.

The gallery of Santa paintings was probably my favorite.  Also, the Norman Rockwell paintings are good, too.  If you like Americana, you should go to Coke.

It is truly amazing how effective the marketing team at Coke really is.  They make you happy with their messages - in every country, in any language.  Their movies are clever and their product is very good.  It makes you want to buy their happiness.  And they have the cashiers to assist you with that, too.

The highlight of the tour is the tasting room.  You can taste hundreds of drinks from all around the world, owned by Coke.  My impression of the drinks is that in some countries the water must be so terrible that their crazy sodas must seem great.  Some of it is so nasty it cannot be described.  If I am ever in Djibouti, I will drink nothing.  Nothing at all.  But if there was a Coke there, I would do a happy dance.

I have now purchased a tiny bottle filled with Coke, and it is a tree ornament.  I am curious to see if the girls will leave it on the tree, or if they will sample it...the bottle is tres cute.