The second year she opened it up to more friends and I met a new friend, Carrie. All three of us homeschool and it has given us more community and a safe place to vent and encourage.
The third year, this year, I felt pretty much in control. I bought the kit on sale, early, a few weeks early. The night before the party (last night) my daughter and I started the assembly process.
The beginning, visions of sugar plums and a Chip & Joanna Gaines structure!
"Mom, this is hard, this frosting is hard, is it supposed to be this hard?"
" I didn't think it would be this hard."
"Mom?"
The assembly was going well, till I realized I used the roof as a side wall. I fixed my mistake and according the instructions, we set it aside for two hours to add the roof.
I added the roof, my daughter had lost interest at this point. No worries, I don't want to cram these memory making moments down her throat all for the sake of happy memories that eventually lead to the therapy couch!
The house broke.
Broke. Fell apart. Terminated. Crumbled.
An hour goes by filled with more frosting/caulk, filth and flar, and sailor talk.
My girl was shielded with a holiday movie.
I grabbed the hot glue gun. I grabbed the wine.
And together with my new side kicks, I glued the darned contraption together.
The next morning, today, I gathered the now indestructible house, the candy to decorate it with and more frosting and my girl and got us settled in the car.
But it wouldn't start.
So I got the handy dandy car charger contraption my hubby picked up for me for situations just like this.
It was dead.
Dead I tell ya!
So, I went back into the house after texting my friend that we would be late and woke my husband up. He works second shift and still had about two hours of sleep ahead of him. My thought was he will give me a jump and he can be back in bed in no time.
Ahem.
Do you see where this is going?
He pulled his truck in front of mine, did the thing with the cables and had me turn the key.
Dead.
Dead I tell ya!!
"Let it run for a bit and we can try it again."
We let it run. We tried it again. Dead.
I was nearing a mini-breakdown. This whole week the enemy has been hanging out in my house, in my life, in my head. Messing with me. Taunting me. Spills, accidents, a bill that somehow wasn't paid on time, a family issue, blah blah blah.
My husband saw the welled up tears. He saw the drawn face. He witnessed the moving lips of hurried prayer. He knew I was about to come undone. We had been talking about this party, looking forward to it, and now....
So, he did what any really good man would do. He put aside his needs, and he unpacked the things and the kid and me from my vehicle. He put us in his truck and took us to our party. Without a word of how he should be in bed, resting, for the big night of labor he would be involved in.
We arrived at the party and were now an hour and a half late.
But my precious host was gracious and welcoming!
We were fed, and loved on. And for another hour, I felt peace. And I thanked God for an unbelievably fabulous husband. And for my friends. And for the smiles on my girl's face.
The battery isn't actually dead. Hubby took it to be tested while we were partying it up.
It is fine. Something else is wrong. So we are without transportation for a few days till he can work on it. Which is okay. It will force me to put my attention where it needs to be right now.
The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.
That, my friends, is another post for another day!
PS I am already preparing for next year's gingerbread house....
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