A year ago today…
I would just like to say, I tried.
Really, I did.
Our oldest (10) was in the local Christmas parade tonight, at the very front. Despite traffic and my children being crazy slow to get out the door, we got there in time. The 8- and 5-year-old and I dropped off the big brother, hiked back to the van to move it closer to the end of the route (to avoid having to walk the route twice, with children, in the dark), and found our way to the end to wait for our parade boy.
And here is where I am reminded why we just don’t do parades: because it is 50% crowds and 49% waiting. I’m not a fan of the former and the boys can’t handle the latter. There was whining and exasperation before the parade began. Then my oldest passed us, we went to go reclaim him. And then I asked all three boys if they wanted to stay to watch the parade.
They gave a unanimous NO. I’m not sure if they have ever agreed with each other on anything quite so quickly.
And I was glad.
There was no traffic to deal with going home. We got home, put on our pj’s, and enjoyed hot chocolate before reading our Advent books together on the couch.
It wasn’t my plan. It was better.
