The other part of me rallied to make the best of it. And repeated the lesson of the Grinch: Christmas isn't about the wrappings, it comes anyway. (Only Dr. Seuss rhymed it better and was more eloquent.) I looked at those boxes and decided that our focus this Christmas would be on Advent. We would bring the Advent calendars with us in our suitcases, and countdown the days to Baby Jesus no matter where we were.
We have three advent calendars at our house. One is a magnetic board with the creche scene. Each day, we open a door and add a new magnet: a star, a cow, Joseph, etc. The last door is Baby Jesus. Another calendar is in the shape of a Christmas tree, with numbered drawers. When you open the drawer, you turn it around and eventually all of the drawers make a winter scene. I bought it at Starbucks several years ago, and it was filled with the worst chocolate I have ever tasted in my life. But I liked it because it was reusable, and now I can fill each drawer with three pieces of whatever candy I want. (Want to know a secret? I use their Halloween candy. Shhh.) Last year, we had an elaborate system for taking turns and with the two calendars someone had to sit out each day. So I bought one last Advent calendar. This one is a snowman, and he has little pockets. I decided that I would write a little advent message for each pocket, things that would help get our hearts ready for Christmas. Something like "do something nice for someone else in your family without being asked" or "be a good friend to someone at school" or "smile at someone that looks sad," you get the idea. Next year, one of the first pieces of paper is going to read "Do not fight with your brother and/or sister over who's turn it is to do what with the advent calendars."
We got off to a good start and the kids were all in. It took a day or two to figure out who was doing what in the rotation, thus the 'note to self' about a note about not fighting for next year. Miss B, the sneaky devil, preferred the magnet board and it took a few days to catch on to her evil plans to commander that one for herself. But I digress.
The movers arrived on the morning of the 10th and all was a whirlwind after that. Before they came, I remember thinking that our pack-up would take forever, and "no one can be more efficient than our American packers five years ago, those guys were good." But these guys were better. They were Flemish. And organized. They arrived at our door at 7:30 in the morning, smoked a cigarette and came right inside and got to work. That first day, I made John take the kids to school so I could keep an eye on things and finish our suitcases.
I learned a lesson with our first move: make sure you have the suitcases packed before the movers show up. Last time, I was still finishing up my own suitcase when the packers got to my room. I came around the corner to find my dresser had been packed. The result? I had to go to Target to buy new underwear before we flew out. I wouldn't make that mistake this time. But no matter how many times I told Johnny to pack his suitcases, he still hadn't. "How can I think about what I need to pack for the next six weeks?" he said to me every time. Before he got back that morning, I called him to say "You better figure it out quick because I can't keep track of all these guys at the same time and there's one upstairs and I don't know what he's doing."
In all of that chaos, I forgot the one thing about Christmas I was going to salvage. The advent calendars. The magnet board and snowman both got packed when I wasn't looking. I did save the candy filled Christmas tree. A good thing too, as we weren't allowed any sort of food items in our shipments. That would be all we needed, our container to get flagged at customs thanks to a few pieces of chocolate and gummies in a Christmas tree box.
In any event, the suitcases got packed, the boxes got packed, and soon we were on our way in a journey that would end up taking a long time with many emotional ups and downs. We shifted our eyes to look ahead to Christmas. Not to the trimmings and trappings, but to our family. For the first time in six years, we would get to spend Christmas with our families. That was our anchor through the next few, very difficult, weeks.
We got off to a good start and the kids were all in. It took a day or two to figure out who was doing what in the rotation, thus the 'note to self' about a note about not fighting for next year. Miss B, the sneaky devil, preferred the magnet board and it took a few days to catch on to her evil plans to commander that one for herself. But I digress.
The movers arrived on the morning of the 10th and all was a whirlwind after that. Before they came, I remember thinking that our pack-up would take forever, and "no one can be more efficient than our American packers five years ago, those guys were good." But these guys were better. They were Flemish. And organized. They arrived at our door at 7:30 in the morning, smoked a cigarette and came right inside and got to work. That first day, I made John take the kids to school so I could keep an eye on things and finish our suitcases.
I learned a lesson with our first move: make sure you have the suitcases packed before the movers show up. Last time, I was still finishing up my own suitcase when the packers got to my room. I came around the corner to find my dresser had been packed. The result? I had to go to Target to buy new underwear before we flew out. I wouldn't make that mistake this time. But no matter how many times I told Johnny to pack his suitcases, he still hadn't. "How can I think about what I need to pack for the next six weeks?" he said to me every time. Before he got back that morning, I called him to say "You better figure it out quick because I can't keep track of all these guys at the same time and there's one upstairs and I don't know what he's doing."
In all of that chaos, I forgot the one thing about Christmas I was going to salvage. The advent calendars. The magnet board and snowman both got packed when I wasn't looking. I did save the candy filled Christmas tree. A good thing too, as we weren't allowed any sort of food items in our shipments. That would be all we needed, our container to get flagged at customs thanks to a few pieces of chocolate and gummies in a Christmas tree box.
In any event, the suitcases got packed, the boxes got packed, and soon we were on our way in a journey that would end up taking a long time with many emotional ups and downs. We shifted our eyes to look ahead to Christmas. Not to the trimmings and trappings, but to our family. For the first time in six years, we would get to spend Christmas with our families. That was our anchor through the next few, very difficult, weeks.
Natalie, Love reading your posts.
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