The TRUTH About Holidays

If you're any kind of American at all you'll know that the 4th of July - Day 'O Independence - was this past week.  It was a fun day or two of celebration. 

And, I had a sad little epiphany. 

Holidays are only fun for kids and grandparents.  Okay, and maybe for parents of children 10 and up.  But for parents in the trenches of raising young children, holidays tend to be more disappointing than fun.  More work than wahoooooooo....

In fact, I sometimes find myself feeling relieved when the holiday ends.  Sad.  But true.

And I'm all about the truth.  Except about what size pants I really wear.

My theory is that as kids we had so much fun that there's an expectation we can't quite give up.

As I was looking through pictures of the day I realized I could prove my point simply by showing my dear readers a series of pictures taken at our Hadley picnic.  Our attempt at getting all the grandkids together.  Sure, the end result looks like we have 6 darling children, festive in their holiday garb, enjoying the day and feeling a deep sense of patriotism.

In reality....


Picture Attempt Numero Uno

Look at J-Bear, photo ready.  He's thinking that if he smiles nicely he'll get to go back to picking the scab on his knee.  J-Cousin is in stealth mode.  If he makes a scowly face and looks slightly down we'll never notice him back there.  Ms. Els has somehow managed to look anywhere BUT at the camera, despite her age and experience with these things.  Cadie Lu isn't sure what's going on, so she's hunched protectively.  What she does know from past experience is that she'll get the anger if she doesn't smile.  Lex is always ready to go for photos.  No sweat.  J-Baby..... honestly, 52 adults were totally focused on the one task of getting J-Baby to look up and smile.

Attempt deuce

J-Bear:  Oh, Scabby, there you are.  How I've missed you!
J-Cousin:  Look at all you silly fools with your sing-song voices and funny faces.  I laugh at you.
Els:  Grin and bear it, grin and bear it. 
Cadie Lu:  Hmmm... I think there's some left over chocolate on my lower lip.  I'm going to lick it, but try to make it look like I'm doing a cutsie face.
Lex:  Wait... are we smiling here or what?
J-Baby:  You had me at Old McDonald.

Attempt Number 3

At this point I believe J-Bear's scab has begun to bleed and he's wondering just how much his parents have noticed.  J-Cousin is giving the sassy-eye to one of his parents.  Ms. Els continues to beam from ear to ear, but I'm pretty sure she's gonna crack.  Cadie Lu remains confused, but has managed to suck on the collar of her shirt to make it soggy and slack, which gives her a nicely put together air.  Lex is still wondering what's going on.  She nailed it on the first go 'round and can't figure why we're still here.  J-Baby continues to love the mayhem going on behind the camera.

Final Attempt....Adult's Aneruism

J-Bear:  You want me to smile?  You want me to smile?  Fine, I'll smile.  Take this... SHAZAAM!
J-Cousin:  Look at these lips... have you ever seen lips like these before?
Ms. Els:  Uh, guys, hate to be a bother, but this smile is actually getting painful.
Cadie Lu:  Did someone say jump rope?  Because what you didn't notice, and what the camera doesn't see, is that I've tied myself and Lex to this table with my jump rope.
Lex:  Okay, fine, it's clear I'm working with amateurs.... smiling, smiling, smiling.
J-Baby:  Hey, what's that?

Behind the camera was bribing, coaxing, begging, fake smiles, whistling, singing, clapping, yelling and all sorts of hullabaloo. 

Kind of like how all holidays go as a parent.  What you don't know is that J-Baby had only slept for about 3 hours the night before due to a bad reaction to his vaccinations his mom was smart enough to get on July 3rd.  After nabbing 2 hours of sleep myself, I'd sent my family to the parade with J-Bear crying because he was so tired and it was hot and he just wanted to sleep.  At the parade Cadie Lu claimed she was freezing cold the entire time ( right, 'cause it was only 90 degrees rather than in the triple digits). 

At the picnic the food was too hot, too cold, too salty, to crunchy, too sugary, too soft, too everything.  I thought it was great.  Because it WAS great.

There were skinned knees, hurt feelings, balls to the head and whining.

But when we look back at the pictures of the day, we're left with a sense that if we just hope hard enough, and hang onto the dream, someday all we'll remember is that we spent those hours with the people we love the most.



Some of the Ridges cousins w/ glo stick bracelets, doing fireworks...
Sometimes the "perfect" picture is all about the messy imperfection!

That said, I can't WAIT to sit back and watch my kids when it's their turn.

As my mom said to my dad this past week when I mentioned my theory:  It's good to be on this side of things, isn't it Rand?

And my dad's reply? 

Yep.