Bi-Polar Christmas

It seems like Christmas comes around and the craziness begins and the month of December becomes like a whirlwind. I get caught up in it and sometime the first week of January it lets me go and I fall back down to earth with a big thud. This year has been different, I don't really know why but it has been slower and less hectic. This change has been nice but I find myself not feeling very Christmas-y(I know it's not a real word). Yesterday, I went shopping for my kids presents and I came home and realized I had no good hiding spot so I needed to wrap them and get them under the tree ASAP. So I locked myself in my room, put on my favorite Pandora station, and started to wrap. Somewhere between Josh Groban's Silent Night and Amy Grant's Noel, it hit me, how very very very blessed we are. Here I was surrounded by toys for my kids and even though I can't afford to buy my 5 year old the ipod he wants, he still gets gifts !!! They get to wake up Christmas morning in their warm house and go and get their presents. That is so much more than alot of kids in America right now. I hear so many parents talking about how stressed they are to find their kids these presents that they can't afford and I feel so bad for them. What a miserable way to spend your Holiday!!! I find myself wanting to give my kids all they want just to see the smile on their face, but what I've come to realize is that if I give them all they want that smile fades so quickly because nothing is ever good enough. They become spoiled rotten boogers and I don't like them :) I say that in the most loving way of course. Anyway, this has always been a struggle for me, how much is too much? How do we give our kids the things that they want but still keep them content? I'm not sure, and I look to the Lord to help me out with that. So as I sat on the floor of my room contemplating all of this I was thinking how blessed I am to have such great kids and at that very moment they sensed it. What is it, you ask? Well, we moms know that when we start to think of how great our kids are they suddenly become possesed!!! Is it just me or does this happen to you too? I promise you, the minute I think "wow, Benny is being really good today" he instantly turns into the naughtiest child on earth. So there I was in my Christmas-y heaven in my room and they all at once start screaming, there is a violent UFC match happening right outside my door. I can't open the door because their presents are everywhere in my room, so I start screaming at them. You better stop it!!!! I'm gonna take all these toys back to the store if you don't stop!!!! Don't make me come out there, you are gonna be sorry! Yep this is Christmas.....this is how it really is, moments of bliss and moments of utter pandamonium. Welcome to the Martinez house!!!!