Advent Follow Up: Vision vs. Reality!

December 12, 2013
If you have read my Welcome page you may remember that I promised to always be real. So today, real is what you will get! This is a quick post about my vision for what I'd hoped our Advent would look like and the reality of what is has been. It hasn't been terrible by any means, but it's funny how the vision and the reality can be so different. Here are a few contrasts for you...

Vision~
Nice quiet evenings reading meaningful books. My children snuggled up next to me listening intently. Joy and peace surrounding us. Can't you just picture the angelic faces?!

Reality~

While some of the books have been wonderful, many have been entirely too long for their attention span. This created a scenario quite opposite of my vision. I have had to read above the fighting over who gets to open the book, who gets to sit closer to mom, who gets to turn the page, the 3 year old blocking the view of the 9 year old and so-on. One night it got so bad I actually put the book down and walked away. Proud mama moment there. 

 Vision~
~Making some of the awesome recipes from here. 

Reality~
Our candy cane bread tasted great but wasn't exactly picture worthy. On the feast of Saint Juan Diego we were unable to make our tortilla Tilma of Roses because someone accidentally put the lunch meat in the freezer instead of the fridge. You can't exactly roll out roses with frozen lunch meat! 

Vision~
Learning many great things about the saints and the true meaning of Christmas.

Reality~

While cooking our Mexican "fiesta" (which consisted of tacos and Mexican rice!) I sent the girls to watch the Saint Juan Diego DVD. Picture this: fighting, screaming 3 year old jumping on the 9 year old. Complete chaos! And there I am yelling at them to try to get over their noise, "SIT down and watch the movie and learn something about Saint Juan Diego." Seriously! I heard myself and thought, this is nuts!

 And our manger- the bed for Jesus is NOT getting any softer! There's been some major attitude going on around here. Coming from me as well as the kids. But when I started feeling defeated and discouraged wondering what its all worth I realized I can laugh at these things. This is life with kids. This is reality. Will I stop trying? No. The truth is God isn't calling me to be perfect. (Thankfully!) He is calling me to keep trying. To keep making the effort, not to have a picture-perfect scenario with the kids, but to learn and grow. To teach my kids the true meaning of this beautiful Advent Season. And to place my focus and hope in Him. So by His grace, I will keep trying.

 I'm still hoping for a better celebration for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe today, but will not try so hard that we end up frustrated. We'll take the lessons as they come.
God bless,
Jen