Not Me! Monday

I can't believe it is Monday again.

And I have once again been absent from Blogville.

My apologies to all my loyal readers.

I promise to resume my regular ramblings postings soon.

Because it is Monday...that can only mean one thing... Not Me! Monday.

Shall we get started?

I did not cook and bake way too much last week.

I did not taste one morsel of any of it.

Because that would just be irresponsible.

And put inches on my waistline.

So I certainly did not partake.

I did not shop entirely too much.

I did not go a little overboard on the shopping this year.

Especially considering the economy and our job stability.

I did not tell my husband that I was just trying to help stimulate the economy as a way to justify my spending.

And I most definitely did not use that line more than once.

I was not up until 3am wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve.

And I did not beg grovel trick ask my brother, who has no children, to help.

He did not witness my OCD issues at their finest.

I did not tell him how to wrap or that "Santa" presents must be wrapped in "Santa" paper.

He did not laugh or make fun of me once.

My husband did not try to put three gifts in one box to be lazy cut down on the wrapping.

And I did not throw a fit, pout and re wrap.

Because opening three gifts is better than one....right?

My 12-year-old did not hear his father and his friend delivering his ping-pong table at 11pm.

And he would never peek out the window to make sure.

And he would certainly never, ever, wake up his sister to tell her what he saw.

Because that would be mean.

And older brotherish.

And spoil Christmas for her.

And me.

Thank goodness that did not happen.

My parents were sick and could not make it a few days early to help with controlling my stress restricting my food consumption cooking, baking, shopping, watching the children.

I was saddened by their absence.

Thank goodness I did not need any help or extra hands.

I always have it together.*ahem*

Moving right along.

I was not the slightest bit disappointed that it took 3.5 seconds for all the presents to be unwrapped Christmas morning.

Considering it took me 5.3 hours to wrap them.

Nope, not me.

I enjoyed it.

And the smiles on their faces let me know that all the stress and chaos of the season was worth it.

So, what haven't you done this week?

Why don't you join us at MckMama's and tell us all about it?

You will be glad you did!

I really do hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas.

I hope that you were able to enjoy it with the ones you love.

I hope you ate, and laughed, and hugged.

A lot.

I hope it was Merry!!!

Not Me! Monday

Well, it's that time of the week again.

The time where I share with you all the things I certainly have NOT done.

Please bear with me as there was a lot of NOT doing this week!

I have Not been a slacker blogger.

I have definitely Not failed to visit even one blog last week.

And I most certainly did Not run out of time in my day to write even one post.

Pathetic I know.

I am not dying to know how you all are.

I am not wringing my hands and tapping my foot with eager anticipation of "catching up" with you all.

Excitement is not written all over my face.

I have not set aside my evening of party planning, baking, and card writing to read blogs.

Nope, not me!

I am not enjoying this busy season.

I am not enjoying the lights.

And the music.

And the spirit of it all.

I most assuredly am not enjoying the shopping.

Not. one. bit.

I have not witnessed my Christmas tree fall to the floor.

And I definitely did not see that happen twice.

I have not had to replace various strands of lights.

I have also not had to rearrange ornaments when they all mysteriously moved to the eye level of one four-year-old.

I have not waited until 10 days before Christmas to decide on my Christmas cards.

Who would do such a thing?

Certainly, not her.

She dreamed of hers this summer.

And it is fabulous.

I did not think of mine in the shower this morning.

And it really is NOT fabulous.

I have Not forgotten about our dear Elfie this week.

He has never moved five minutes before the kids got up.

And he never appeared in a different location two hours after they awoke.

Because the kids would have figured that out.

And I would be "caught"!

What about you?

What have you NOT done this week?

Join me for Not Me! Monday and share.

Music In The Lobby

This morning was like any other.

It started out well.

Twenty-one four year old children arrived at school wearing their finest holiday attire.

They were buzzing with excitement.

They were going to perform in a Christmas Program hosted by the Council on Aging.

They had each made a Santa hat out of construction paper.

Complete with cotton trim and possibly way too much glue.

They all looked quite festive.

Transportation had been arranged to get all the children to the hotel in a timely manner.

It took careful planning but everyone arrived safe and sound.

Upon entering the lobby, you could hear the excitement of the children.

They eagerly anticipated their turn "on stage".

Imagine our surprise when we were told that the program had been moved to a different day entirely.

We had prepared for an event that would not happen.

We had dressed up unnecessarily.

Parents took off work for no reason at all.

All because a simple phone call was never made.

Communication was forgotten.

Thank goodness our children will never know what might have been.

Instead we lined them up in the foyer.

The pianist hummed the tune and I, the music teacher, led those sweet children in Christmas music.

They sang their little hearts out to seven songs of the season.

The audience consisted only of parents, employees of the hotel, and a few overnight guests.

They clapped and cheered as if there were hundreds.

The children were so proud.

They smiled and bowed.

They had worked so hard.

This morning I felt the Christmas spirit.

And I saw it on the faces of 21 precious angels.