Holiday Madness!

Everyone always complains about how hectic the Holidays are and many people actually dislike Christmas for this reason. I, for one have never been one of those people. However this year I really felt the craziness! The week before Jared came home I was pretty much losing my mind. I felt like the worst mom and wife ever. I thought, how can I have more kids and more responsibilities when I can't even handle what I have right now?!

I had about a million things going on all at once right smack down in the middle of the holidays. It was too overwhelming for me. I don't handle stress very well and it's like my brain stops working properly or something. I kept doing all these stupid things which made me feel even worse. 

One day while shopping with Noah and Sophia, I lost my bag of purchased clothes at Old Navy. I was running around the store like a maniac trying to find it. Thankfully, I did find it. Ironically, it was right behind the table where I first thought "oh my gosh, where is my bag!?". So after going in a complete circle around the store and back to where I started, I found it. 

Another day I was shopping with the two little ones again trying to find chairs for our table. I went to a thrift store, didn't find any chairs but I did buy a cheapo picture frame. I remember the cashier asking to see my ID with my credit card. 

I then headed to a different store, where I actually found a chair along with a bunch of other thrift store treasures. As I went to pay I started panicking when I could not find my wallet in my bag! I pretty much had a heart attack when I quickly thought that I must have left it on the counter at the other store. I told the cashier I lost my wallet and instantly stepped aside and called the other store. The guy that answered the phone was really frustrating me with how indifferent he was acting towards my situation and I was probably not as nice as I should have been. Here I was thinking that my green card was now gone! 

Anyways, long story short but after I got off the phone the cashier told me that the woman who was behind me in line had payed for my stuff! I walked out of the store in tears of gratitude along with several other mixed emotions. How nice of her! I had one last ounce of hope as I looked in my car to see if my wallet had somehow got left in there. I felt like the biggest dummy AND jerk when I saw it on the floor of my car. It had fallen out of my diaper bag. But what a relief! 

One more ridiculously spacey thing I did that week was locking my car keys in my trunk! Here I was, at an antique store, trying to be super thrifty and bargaining with the employee to save $5.00 off another chair and then slam my trunk shut with my keys inside and have to pay a locksmith a ridiculous amount of money to get my keys out! Ugh. This was my breaking point.

After that experience I knew I had too much on my plate. I had to slow down and stop worrying about things that really didn't matter in the long run. It was okay if I didn't get my Christmas shopping done before my family flew in to town, and it was okay if I didn't have a spotless house for my family, if I didn't have my house decorated at all, and if I didn't have enough chairs for everyone to sit down etc....

I needed to re focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I was really thankful for that person who payed for my stuff at the store. It really meant a lot to me! Even though I had a very stressful week, I'm thankful for those experiences because they force me to be humble. I know we are supposed to be humble without being compelled, but I'm far from perfect. I came home and watched some Christmas videos that brought the spirit of Christ back into my heart and I felt much better.

It's times like these where I am so thankful for my testimony of Jesus Christ. I know he is helping me become a better person. He is helping me become more like him.