Christmas Crunch

Isaac is the king of one-liners. I was scolding him one day about his inability to focus on a task or chore that I give him. Very simple things like, "put on your shoes", or "brush your teeth" seem to instantly escape his brain, once he sees something more interesting to do.

He looked at me with very sad eyes and said, "It's just hard! For some reason I always forget, before I remember."

My heart was instantly softened, "I know exactly how you feel, Isaac."

I'm afraid Isaac and I share an affinity for being easily, very easily distract ..... oh did I tell you the real reason the chicken crossed the road?

Oh wait, back to the story. Well my distracted nature has cost my parents a lot of headaches and a good deal of money over the years. There is a long list of infractions; locking my keys in my car more times than I can count, sometimes while running and once with a small child in it (I was just filling up my gas tank, relax people) losing my keys, dropping my cell phones into water and on pavement, leaving my blazing hot curling irons plugged in all day, forgetting to turn my oven and stove off, forgetting to look behind me when I pull out of the drive way and hitting a parked car on four different occasions ... you get the picture. I think that's why my dad was smiling the day he gave that responsibility over to another man.

So we were on our way home from the twins Christmas choir performance. Anyway, Shane came straight from work so we were driving home with the boys in our two separate cars. Shane and I are competitive with each other, always, so of course, we were racing.

Shane was right on my bumper trying to find a way around me ... I swear he would've crashed into me if it would have helped him win, as we pulled into the driveway. I didn't pull my car all the way into the garage because I was trying to let Mason out so he could run to the door and win, because winning is the most important thing. Well, in the end WE won, at least according to my version of the story.

I turned off the car and went into the house. A little while later I heard Shane saying my name in an aggravated tone. When I walked out to the garage I cringed... Christmas spirit instantly gone. It's hard to see from the picture, but my garage door resembled an accordion.

I felt horrible. Not a good time of year to be in need of a major home repair. After getting the kids into bed, I crawled into my own bed and cried. My boys took pity on me and came up with a plan...Even though it was supposed to be a secret Isaac came down the stairs and told me what the plan was. They were going to sell all of their toys including their DS's to help pay for a new garage door. What awesome, caring boys I have. I am so blessed.

Well, I'm happy to say the garage door has been replaced ... now the only ding is in my checking account. On the bright side I now have the distinction of being one of the only women who can say that her Christmas present was a garage door.