Celebrate those Special, Crazy Holiday MOMents! #SproutMOMent

The holiday season is crazy for everybody, but it’s a special kind of crazy for moms. Between the mad rush to find the hottest toy, the baking, the decorating and the holiday activities for kids, there is no lack of amusing, blood pressure-spiking memories being made. Sprout calls these experiences “Holiday MOMents.” I’ve had no shortage of holiday moments over the years. I’ll tell you a bit about the one that stands out the most.

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Christmas 2009: The holiday moments that will live in infamy

Let me tell you a little story about a pre-lit Christmas tree and the Christmas of 2009. See, I live with my mom, along with my son. That year, he was three. My mom decided that it would be SO MUCH EASIER if we just got a nice pre-lit Christmas tree. My mom thought it would be a more childproof Christmas tree for some reason. You know, the kind you supposedly just slap together, plug in and “voila” you have lights? Yeah, it doesn’t quite work that way.

It all started out so well. We managed to get the giant box home, unloaded and even put together the tree with minimal injury. In our house, that’s a total win. Then came the lights. Let me tell you something: there isn’t just one magical plug that makes the whole tree light up…there are like 20! Okay, maybe closer to ten, but it’s a lot. Guess what? They’re all color-coded! Kind of. See, SOME go into color-coded plug-insert things (do those have names?). Others, well, they don’t.

We spent TWO HOURS trying to figure out what went where. We’d get one half of the tree lit and the other half would go out. We tried looking up the directions online to no avail. Why didn’t we use the directions that came with the tree? Well, see, my son-then three- decided they weren’t needed and promptly tore them into pieces with glee as he watched us struggle to put the tree up. Little pieces. He may even have eaten a few of them. Perhaps some ended up in his nose. I mean, what is up with kids jamming stuff up their noses anyway?

In the end, we managed to get all but the top section of the tree lit up. We ended up stringing a set of lights around the top half and calling it a day. So much easier than just stringing lights on the whole tree, right? If you could see me, I’d be rolling my eyes right about now. Once the tree was finally up, though, it was pretty. It even smelled nice with our fake pine scent…right up until my brother arrived with his small dog with a Napoleon complex. Owen walked in and peed on the tree. My male dog didn’t take too kindly to that and promptly covered Owen’s urine with his own. That was also the year my then-husband lost his job and my mom broke her leg on Christmas Eve. Let’s just say it was one for the history books!

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Still, in the end, my son had an amazing Christmas and really, when you’re a mom, that’s all you want. As moms, we try to do it all to make the holidays a special time for our kids. We strive for perfect holiday moments the entire season. Honestly, though, no one remembers the perfect holiday moments. Sure, they’re nice when they’re happening, but it’s the crazy holiday moments the family talks about years down the road.

Sprout Holiday MOMents

Head over to Sprout and check out all the fabulous holiday MOMents from other moms, then add your own! It’s easy and fun.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

13 thoughts on “Celebrate those Special, Crazy Holiday MOMents! #SproutMOMent”

  1. Wow Yikes what a nutso Christmas that was.

    Our family is always nuts at Christmas but not with so many difficulties like you had. Glad the end result was still a happy holiday.

    Kevin Linkie

  2. Oh what a crazy Christmas!! I’ve had my share of decoration mishaps and cooking blunders around the holidays, but it’s so worth it in the end! (:

  3. So glad that you took those pics! I always took pictures during the chaos of putting up our trees when the kids were really small. No matter how frustrated I got during the process, those pics are precious to me now!!

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