Perspectives in Christmas Spirit

Super Catman's Last Week of Having "The Funny Front Tooth" Here he is trying to impress me.
Last Night He Got To Hold Baby for The First Time

Moonbeam "Shopping with WallyPop" and Sister

My Husband Traded Mechanical Work and Some Stuff for a SNO-MOBILE!! VROOM VROOM!! He got it running here and is offering the boys a first ride!

"Shopping with WollyPop" Moonbeam said proudly as her sister guided her through the parking lot, furiously sucking the "wollypop" the bank lady had given her. As we began looking at clothes, Moonbeam heard a lady point and say "cute" to her friend. Moonbeam pointed to her own pants and told me "cute pants". Soon I was taking her down the toy aisles where, wide eyed, she gawked at row after row of dolls. She recognized Strawberry Shortcake from the cartoon. Then she pointed to a glittery doll and said "put some sparkle on". She loved it!! After that, we went to the Christmas decoration section where she took in all the pretty lights and glimmer. Even though I didn't have much money to spend, it was a lot of fun just enjoying Moonbeam enjoying the merchandise.
We had driven 5 hours to the big city where Super Catman was to get preliminary work done for braces next week. Part of me dreaded the appointment. I really really like the Orthodontist. He seemed to be a good, Godly man with conviction, something quite rare these days. Its that every time I walk into a clinic of any kind, I have this fear of being judged. Nobody does anything rude most of the time. Its mainly me. I've worked in health care related jobs since I was 16. I've heard attitudes of different health care workers over the years. I understand that they're frustrated with all the taxes they have to pay. We all see people who abuse the health care system who don't have to pay for it and it is frustrating. All that is true. Having my kids be a part of the state system, just makes me sensitive to the fact that now I'm the one who might be judged.
The clinic seemed quiet. Nobody came to the desk to acknowledge us. They were still on their lunch break. Finally, a lady came and had me sign some papers. Nervously, I brewed myself some of the fancy coffee that was in the waiting area. In my imagination, I could see somebody telling me it wasn't for HMK patients - lol!! I sat quietly with my head down looking at a magazine. Sock Fashion Expert sat quietly reading a magazine. Moonbeam grabbed a glass mug. I told her to put it back. Again, my over active imagination took over. What is the front desk lady thinking?! "Some welfare lady with a bunch of unruly hillbilly kids comes barging into this ritzy office and upsets all their fancy stuff." "Stop it!" I chided myself. Then I remembered that I had made wreaths for the Orthodontist and his staff. Fear gripped me. I felt frozen to the seat. Why I go through this, I just don't know. Slowly, and patiently, the voice of conviction told me to bring the wreaths in. I asked the front desk lady every body's names. She told me as I wrote them down - 5 to be exact. That was just how many wreaths I'd made. Then I stuffed each Christmas card into their respective envelope and each wreath into a big plastic bag. I borrowed the stapler and stapled a card to each bag. I kept fighting the fear the whole time. Moonbeam was fussing again and Sock Fashion Expert took her out to the car for the diaper bag.
Then I gave the front desk lady the wreaths and thanked her for all the good care Super Catman would be getting. I really am grateful that they took his case. As a nurse, I understand that HMK pays what they pay. I doubt they probably pay what the Orthodontist could charge. Not many Orthodontists take HMK. That's why we had to drive 5 hours to get there. Of course I didn't say all of that, I just said "thanks for all the good care". The Lady's face changed. She couldn't believe that I would make wreaths for them. Soon the entire staff was going on and on about how nice the wreaths were. The Orthodontist came out to personally thank me for "being a light" to his staff. I suddenly felt a little embarrassed, but happy. I was glad everybody was so happy. "People just don't do this sort of thing" the front desk lady said. I had gotten a similar response when I did the same thing for the dental people last week when I got Super Catman's cavities fixed. I don't think clinic workers feel very appreciated. Probably a lot of people are ungrateful and rude. Showing appreciation elicited a response I wasn't at all expecting. The front desk lady even came out to hug me before I left. I just couldn't believe it. I went from being paranoid about being judged to being the reason for an office full of joyful people. It felt good.
I tried hard to have a good attitude about shopping the rest of the day. The dollar sandwiches are Arby's were disgusting. Everything seemed expensive and I didn't end up buying any Christmas presents at all. I got minimal groceries at Costco. I wondered how I would ever come up with nice presents for all my kids, but I still felt good for making somebody else happy. Moonbeam had a good time in town. Sock Fashion Expert seemed happy. My husband joked about us being "white trash" and I got mad and yelled at him. All in all it was a pretty good day. Maybe I'm closer to being ready for Christmas than I think I am.