Advent Day 20

Elvis and Lydia's last day of school for 2013 is today.  My plan this morning was to get the Christmas shopping done with Henry in tow.  It did not go so well, unless you define success by leaving Target with a screaming and flailing child begging for a Matchbox car.  Then, yes, successful.

I did not get the Christmas shopping done. Perhaps the only good thing that came out of the morning's drive to and from Target was that I thought of all of the things I would buy if I dared take Henry into another store. In that way I am fully prepared to venture out again, hopefully childless next time.

I've quickly switched gears into consumer Christmas spirit instead of searching for the promised King the Magi are looking for in today's verses.  We're getting down to the wire. This morning I found myself rearranging my shopping list in the order of top priority: which Christmas parties and events are happening first, and which ones can wait until another day?  This would have helped had I thought of it before I went to Target instead of as I was driving away, defeated.

Defeated is a good word for the week, actually.  I have triumphed over small things - Christmas ornament exchanges and fighting back a cold with the full gamut of home remedies - but my patience thinned out yesterday as the kids took turns yelling at each other.  Oh, the noise, the noise, noise, noise, noise!  It turns me straight into the grinch.

The rest of the afternoon I am going to spend searching for silence, at least until the kids get home, and then we'll search for Christmas lights and a little good cheer to end the night.

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'" - Matthew 2:1-2