Am I the only one who feels almost silly blogging today? My days and thoughts feel a little trivial now in the aftermath of what happened in Connecticut on Friday (I am choosing not to post links to articles on that awful tragedy here, you will find them everywhere else, my heart can’t take any more of it frankly). But this is my little carved out corner of the blogiverse for trivial or important things and one thing I came to realize Friday afternoon was that sometimes, even when your heart is breaking over the cruelty of the world, you find you still have to get up. Make dinner. Kiss your children. Count your blessings. Hold on to whatever you have that makes you smile and keeps you sane in this crazy world and don’t let go.

MM is home sick from school today (nothing serious, just being overly cautious so as not to potentially infect his classmates right before Christmas) and I have to say, I’m a little relieved to not spend the day worrying unnecessarily about him. We talked this morning about what happened in CT (vaguely) and what he should do in a scary situation like that. It breaks my heart to have to think about awful things like this – and to have to put thoughts like that in the mind of my children, but it’s our job as parents to teach our kids to live – to be safe and to protect themselves from the scary dangers of this world.

He handled the conversation well, it went better than I’d thought it would. I was so proud of his school when I learned that they have had a few drills this fall to prepare for these kinds of dangerous things. He told me all about “cold red drills” (code red I’m sure) and how the teacher locks the door, closes the blinds and they all hide in a corner and be very quiet, etc. I’m glad his school and many others I’m sure were already working to teach the kids how to deal with worst case scenarios. Mothering is a terrifying job, it’s nice to know that our school administrators and teachers take their task of watching over them during the day seriously.

We kept busy this weekend running errands on likely the busiest shopping days of the season. It was a very unfortunate time to find ourselves needing to go to several stores and even the mall (horrors!) not for Christmas presents, but just for life. Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Staples… crazy. We began the morning on Saturday at the Home Depot Kids Workshop where my daughter held a hammer for the first time (my husband is a brave man putting his fingers that close to her hammer!). From there we went on to several other stores for various purchases, bracing ourselves against ridiculous crowds everywhere. None crazier than the local mall where my son’s cub scout den was volunteering for the Salvation Army’s bell ringing station. We ended the evening at a bowling alley where MM’s cub scouts met afterwards for a fun night of bowling and pizza.

BB insisted on bowling, too, so the three of us (myself, dh and BB) got a lane of our own so we could bowl with her. Watching her pick up that seven pound ball and march over to the lane, set it on the floor and push it with all her might down the lane… waiting an eternity for it to finally get to the end and knock down a few pins while she shrieks and cheers and announces at the top of her lungs that “I WON MOMMY!” It was a lot of fun to watch. :O) Watching her slip and slide down that ultra slippery lane the one time she tried to follow the ball and instantly regretted it – that was pretty funny, too, in retrospect. A couple of times we ended up letting her “help” us during our turns, sacrificing a good score to see her smile. In the end, MOMMY WON by almost 20 points which I might have bragged about incessantly. Luckily my husband is a good sport. I think we might have to start doing this regularly. :O)

Yesterday the boys did some wood working while BB and I made cinnamon ornaments together. The recipe was very simple – just two ingredients, apple sauce and a bottle of cinnamon – but the dough was very sticky and gritty to work with which I didn’t love. BB loved picking out cookie cutters though and helping to make holes for the ribbon with a straw. They cooked for 2 1/2 hours at 200 degrees F, making the house smell like cinnamon pretty much all day.

Today we will decorate a few more ornaments, make a Christmas card for MM’s teacher and probably do a good bit of lounging about and watching movies together. I’ll steal a lot of extra snuggles and hold my children tightly. I hope you all have a wonderful week and a fantastic holiday!