At the time of this writing, we are in the middle of the holiday season. Christmas is over, however the New Year has not yet arrived. The last week or so has been wonderful seeing friends and family, and I am so fortunate to have so many people that care about my family and me. One of the things we like to do as a family is attend our church’s Christmas Eve service, so that was a part of our holiday plans.
We had celebrated a family Christmas outside of town on the 23rd, so we had to drive back home for Christmas Eve. We made it home in time for the service, however, we quickly stopped at home and then went to the church. On our way back, our toddler slept and did wake up about the time we got home, so we thought he would be ready to go to church.
Turns out, we made a rookie parenting mistake. Our little boy had been sitting in a car seat for over two hours, plus he hadn’t had much of a snack or any food. As we walked into the sanctuary, he started crying and was not interested in staying there. I took him out of the sanctuary for a little bit, tried to come back in, and he was having none of it. So, my son and I spent about 95% of the Christmas Eve service walking the hallways, playing, eating, and drinking. Of course, after being in the car he needed to move around and burn some energy, which is part of being a toddler.
I was bummed to miss out on the service, but I realized that motherhood is full of moments like this. Moments where the needs of your child come before what you want to do. At that moment, my child needed to roam and play, and taking care of him is more important than being able to enjoy a church service. So, it may not have been part of the plan, but it was what needed to happen for my family, and it didn’t spoil the holiday at all.