The Best Gifts of Christmas: Embracing Imperfect and Boys At Play
The Silicon Valley of California was once known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight. Romantic, eh? A veritable garden of produce, orchards and vineyards.
But only 15 inches of average rainfall a year.
Louisiana, Florida, Texas…they see that much rain in a week.
The sun shines almost all the time, and we are somewhat dumbfounded to be trapped indoors by weather.
It has been raining all week – well beyond cats and dogs, it’s been ponies of rainfall. Torrential and cold, too cold to splash in.
We’ve been stuck inside for a few days now. Long days. Vacation days. Unbroken by schedule or school.
Little boys tend to get stir-crazy indoors. Rambunctious energy spilling out of bedrooms into the hallway. Fights break out. Everything becomes a weapon (yes, even toilet brushes…side postscript below)
But this year something new emerged. Camaraderie, companionship…the two brothers born four years apart finally on a more even playing field; the younger old enough to learn the rules of Monopoly and Slap Jack.
We sat in wonder as they actually…played…together.
LEGOs and Avengers, they dreamed a roller coaster out of a chair, two walking sticks and some blankets.
Even as I write they are playing Monopoly on the floor. Monopoly!
There have been fights, of course, being that they are normal, red-blooded, testosterone-infused little men.
Our response? You fight, you clean. They scrubbed the kitchen cabinets and mopped the kitchen floor. They even vacuumed until I caught one of them suctioning water out of the bathtub…while his brother was in it.
It’s been a great holiday despite my atrocious,sneezing, snuffling cold. We shared a delightful evening with friends and family around our extra, extra, extra long dining room table. Everything perfect – lights twinkling, candles glowing, food hot, wine poured, desserts done to a turn…
Until, late in the evening, I glanced into the corner of the dining room to see something I had forgotten hours before.
A toilet brush.
In my dining room.
On Christmas.
I had been making a final pass through the house and baths before guests arrived, and being in possession of only one toilet brush, I carried it with me from one end of the house to the other. But I stopped in the dining room to check on other things and completely forgot about the offending article.
I don’t think anyone saw it. (I hope.)
It was a lesson in life, that lowly article of foul necessity. No matter how hard I try for perfect…I’ll never achieve it.
Might as well embrace imperfect and have a good laugh.
P.S. As my Facebook followers inquired…why don’t I keep a toilet brush in each bath? Simple. Two boys: Everything’s a weapon. The last toilet brush sword fight ended the convenience, and I keep one, safely in the master bath, to be used under my personal supervision only.
And Christmas dinner, of course.
We’ve had some of those experiences of the boys playing together here, too, this Christmas. It’s made it a very, very Merry one. 🙂
Love this! While reading I laughed out loud, so my girls asked what was so funny. So I read your post to them. Now they are afraid I’m going to make them clean when they fight. Great idea…I think I will!