Drama Queen's Momma

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Little Angels

I was in the worst mood yesterday, a combination of PMS and 7 children who must have been bitten by a rabid skunk. Sing it with me: twelve time-outs, eleven pushing children, ten temper tantrums, nine boxing matches, eight screaming sessions, seven crying children, six shin kickings, fiiiiiiive breakdowns. Four deep scratches, three hair pullings, two biting boys, and a partridge in a pear tree.

To top it all off, I had to buy presents for all of my children's teachers and then stay up until midnight writing letters to all of them. 'Cause apparently it wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't wait until the night before the school parties to take care of all of this. Every. single. year.

In between buying the gifts and writing the letters, I remembered a project our family was going to do. I fixed two Christmas trays with some cookies and things I had made, put an angel on each that Drama Queen colored and attached this note (not my original idea or poem):

The Christmas Angel has come to town,
To leave you some goodies, I see you have found.

If you wish to spread some of this good cheer,
Continue this greeting, 'cause Christmas is near.

First post the "Angel" where all can see,
And leave it there until Christmas Eve.

Then make 2 treats, with 2 notes like this,
Deliver to 2 neighbors who the Angel has missed.

You have only two days to leave a treat.
Ring the doorbell and run -- be fast on your feet.

Let's share in the spirit of friendship and love,
That's what Christmas is really made of.

We picked two neighbor families we wanted to treat and headed out. The first family wasn't home so we headed to a different one. The kids put the plate on the porch, rang the doorbell and ran to where The Hubster and I were hiding beside their fence. Nobody answered so we sent them back with a new strategy, a combo of door ringing and knocking. Still no answer. Since we have so many cats and dogs roaming the neighborhood, we decided the wise thing to do was remove the goodies and treat someone else.

As we were sneaking to the other neighbors we had planned to treat, the guy across the street came out. Apparently four people slinking through the dark at 9:00 (yes, I know it was late) is a little alarming. He was a good neighbor and watched us the whole time. Our treated neighbor came out and asked if the other man was the one who left the tray. He very quickly pointed out our hiding place on the side of the house. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes and then headed on to try to find someone else home.

It was a bust at another house, probably because they couldn't see anything when they looked out the peephole. We finally decided our next-door neighbors would enjoy being treated. I got smart on this one and set one of their outdoor chairs on the porch and put the tray on it. Digression: We secretly call this family the Griswolds because of their love of Christmas decorations. We sometimes worry that the planes may mistake them for the airport. So when we rang the doorbell and ran, it was like jumping hurdles and running an obstacle course all rolled into one.

But you know what happened to my mood by the time we were home? It did a complete turnaround. All the secrecy, giggling, running and hiding made me completely forget about all the things that had gone wrong that day and helped me focus on doing something nice for someone else. And we found out today that the first set we treated passed it along by treating two more neighbors today. How fun is that?

Posted @ 9:30 PM ~ 2 comments