My Little Elves

As usual, I was a little behind with my Christmas tasks, so on Christmas Eve Eve (what? that's not an official holiday?) I set up a sweat shop* consisting of four children under four. 

The almost two and one year olds dropped out quickly, after swiping a couple of cookies for their own use.  I guess I'll consider them the quality control department?

Abbey and Brendan worked diligently, and we frosted and sprinkled all of my cookies for the year.

Days pass at a glance lately, preschool and dance lessons and play dates and errands and museum trips enrich our days but make for a whirlwind of car rides that sometimes force me to check my little planner several times a day to see where we need to be.

Abbey brought home a gift for Ryan and me from preschool on her last day before break, handmade paper painted and glittered into a crinkly package she insisted I open even before Daddy got home. 

It cradled a homemade ornament; her smiling face peered at me from in front of a tree at school, and tears sprang to my eyes at the thought of how quickly her first school year is rushing by before my eyes.

Last year, our little elf helpers couldn't have frosted and sprinkled cookies with minimal supervision, knowing better than to lick the frosting over and over or to pour the sprinkles directly on the floor.

In the new year, I vow to take the time to slow down a little and cherish these moments with my babies even more than I already try to do.

Our schedule probably won't change too much; we all like being on the move, and hunkering down inside the house might work for a few days, but we'd soon be looking longingly at the car and the calendar for something more to do.

Yet, I can find moments in our invited chaos to savor the present.

I can turn down the radio and chat before turning it up to sing along to our most favorite songs.

I can encourage their stools in our crowded kitchen instead of trying to entice them out from underfoot with Legos and crayons.

I can grab a brush and watercolor paint with one hand in my planner instead of a hand in my planner, another sweeping the floor, and another folding laundry (what? you didn't know moms grow an extra hand when necessary?)

I can do my best to keep my mind present instead of racing off to our next adventure or my next task.

I can enjoy them.

Because these moments are fleeting.

Shell's Ricotta Cookies

and

my mom's sugar cut-outs

Abbey's best friend is the son of a Certified Master Chef

it looks like talent runs in the family

 

*If you've ever decorated cookies with four year olds, you know the idea of a sweatshop is laughable.  It took more time and effort to clean up the errant frosting globs and sprinkles than it would have to frost them myself.  But they were the sweetest and cutest helpers ever!

I'm pouring my heart out a couple of days early this week

a new book review is coming Wednesday

(Michiganders, it features a Fowler bridal store-bring on the Mitten Love!)