What was supposed to be the most “tame” Christmas yet somehow took on a life of it’s own. The idea started with the fact that we are outgrowing the downstairs, so we had the idea to finally redo the upstairs to make the entire thing a playroom. It wasn’t that easy, though. It took a LOT of convincing because Dan wasn’t quick to give up what has been the “Men Den” since the upstairs was finished. But finally he gave in and the work began. And there was a LOT of work because the great ideas kept coming and we kept wanting to do them.
We had several of those moments, as all parents do, when we realized to just what lengths we were willing to go to for our children’s happiness. For the weeks leading up to Christmas I don’t think either of us were in bed before 2 in the morning. And sweet Brittain…because we were working up there, we had to close it off completely to her. She never complained the first time and even put a STOP sign on the door so that any of her friends that came over would also know it was off-limits.
Fortunately, when we took on this project, we knew we weren’t in it alone. There were people who stepped up to help us make the upstairs into what we envisioned. Dan’s parents were over on weekends, spending the WHOLE weekend helping us with beadboard, bulletin boards, a chalkboard, a whiteboard… We also found out that a woman who works with my mom was an artist and could paint anything. When I found that out, we hired her and she began working on a fish/ocean mural for one of the walls upstairs. On the weekends, our house was the place to be. You would rarely ride by and not see 4 or 5 cars in the driveway.
As we got closer and closer to Christmas I got more excited. I was so tired, but it didn’t keep me from imagining Christmas morning and seeing Brittain’s reaction to her new play area. At the last minute Dan and I decided that we wanted to have the family there for Santa time. It wasn’t something we had done before, but EVERYONE was excited and because so many people had helped us to make it what it was, we wanted to share it with all the people we love.
When the morning arrived it was all I had dreamed it would be and more. We timed it perfectly asking everyone to arrive at 8:30. Brittain woke up at 8 and because she already knew we were awaiting the arrival of the rest of the family, she never became impatient that she wasn’t able to go up to see what Santa had brought for her. Instead, she had a “check-in” table for everyone that arrived, signing them in with a name tag and also giving them their homemade stocking that she made.
I’m not sure if anyone could have the “proper” reaction to what she saw upstairs. Even I, who had just seen the finished product the night before, couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it on Christmas morning. But in addition to the whole overwhelming factor, there was also the peanut gallery (haha) that were staring Brittain down waiting to see what she would think. It was so sweet when she went into the tv room where she saw the mural, and the tv and the bean bags…she simply turned to me and just started hugging me. I don’t think I could have asked for a better reaction. She went on to see her ready made classroom at the other end of the upstairs with 2 bulletin boards, a huge chalkboard, a huge whiteboard. Then Pappy and Aunt Susan gave her her teacher desk and Gramy and Papa uncovered her 3 student desks.
After Brittain saw the upstairs we moved on to brunch and then to open the gifts from Dan’s parents. I will just tell you that it took Brittain a full 3 hours to open all the gifts from them. To go along with her upstairs classroom, Connie went crazy and gave her EVERY school supply she could ever want. In fact, she has multiples of every school supply she could want. If you look in her cabinets upstairs you will see boxes of crayons for multiple students, paints for multiple students, markers for multiple students. It’s an actual classroom, no doubt.
Brittain was so excited about her classroom that she could hardly wait to decorate it. We could hardly get her to finish opening all her gifts. When she finally finished, she and I headed upstairs and unpacked all her supplies and decorations. It took us a few hours, but we got it just right. Once we finished hanging everything I stepped back and got goosebumps. We had been working so hard we really hadn’t stopped to look. I said to Brittain, “Oh my gosh, Brittain. Step back. Look at it.” She took a step back and just stared. And then she said, “I think I’m going to cry…happy cry, that is.” It was so sweet. I took this picture with my phone at that moment:
Cecilia and Matt had gone to Boston this Christmas to be with his family, so we waited to celebrate the day with my side of the family until the day after Christmas. It was actually really nice not to have to rush from house to house. Especially with Coleman this year, there was no way he could go without a nap, so the timing of everything was much easier.
Christmas Day was so much fun that I wasn’t sure if anything could top it, but having my family all together was just as wonderful as it always is. Even with all the drama in all our lives (it seems), everyone came together in love and celebrated the day. Brittain certainly had a blast…and honestly I didn’t have such a bad time either. 🙂
