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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Another Kind of Holiday Self Control

This time of year, most people worry about exhausting their willpower reserves to resist overindulging in holiday sweets.

Is there anything more symbolic of holiday overindulgence?

I'm not gonna deny that I have a giant sweet tooth and struggle with the sugary holiday bounty as much as the next girl.  But there's another thing that's actually quite a bit harder for me to control this time of year.

My beloved Bear is always up for whatever new and interesting thing is going on in the house.  Last year he has just turned 2 when the tree went up.  We gave him a couple of plastic ornaments, he goofed around the tree a bit, threw them at the dogs and wandered off.

This year it was a different story.  He was so into it he got upset if he caught anyone else putting up "tissus oments." 

This challenge was multiplied because we don't just put ornaments on the tree - I string garland around 3 big windows and doorways and hang ornaments there as well.

He eventually accepted that we could work together to deck the halls, and the job got done.  But it turns out the hardest thing for OCD me and the Martha Stewart that lives in my head was the wonky little clusters of ornaments that shriek "BEAR WAS HERE!!" in most endearing fashion.





The sappy mommy in me is proud to leave this off-kilter evidence that my baby is growing up and taking part in family holiday traditions.   But the OCD monster in me desperately wants to fix them when he's not looking.

I won't let my own issues ruin his proud handiwork.  I just wish it wasn't such a mental battle for me (though I'm happy to note my urge to interfere diminishes with each passing day).  I'm trying to simply enjoy this phase, because I know it'll only last one or two Christmases.