It was a day of creation for the kids in the Schneider Haus.
I started out the day cleaning and sorting through the kitchen while the kids played with various arts and crafts. Henry was working very seriously on a LEGO tower. At one point, Amelia told me I should go look at Henry’s tower and he responded, defensively, that it wasn’t done yet. Ever the perfectionist.
When he was finally done, he was so proud to show it off. I love that.
I remember a time when the only interest Henry showed in LEGOs or blocks of any kind was tearing them down. But he has always been so clever about figuring out how things work, so it’s been fun to see the little engineer in him start to come out.
Erin had some dog training clients and had to head out for a while, and I kept working in the kitchen. Hours later, I still found myself there, and it felt somehow like it actually got messier the more time I spent in there. It was a cycle of cleaning up, cooking something for the kids, cleaning up again, setting the kids up with some Play Doh or drawing, having them clean up, and on and on and on.
I think most parents would agree that cleaning in general often feels like a hopeless and pointless effort. As soon as you clean something up, it’s a mess again before you can even turn around. It is the very definition of a Sisyphean Task. Sisyphus was a figure in Greek mythology who was cursed to roll an enormous boulder up a hill, only to have it roll right back down and have to do it again, FOREVER. Kitchen cleaning is a lot like that.
Also laundry.
Anyway, mythic messes aside, the kids actually played really well together all day and we had generally smooth go of it around the house. Erin and I both snuck in a little nap in the afternoon, then we had some dinner and hung out together. I recently bought a cookie ornament decorating kit from Trader Joe’s, so we brought that out after dinner and everyone expressed themselves in the medium of frosting and sprinkles.
We’re not going to actually hang them on the tree…let’s face it, the dogs would eat them anyway…but we all had a lot of fun making them. Cookies and preservative-laced frosting may not be the answer to all life’s problems, but they sure come close.
After the kids were in bed, I spent some time looking out the window. Snow was gently falling and the scene with all the Christmas lights around was beautiful.
This year has robbed us of a lot of the big pleasures, that is for sure. But the small ones are still there for us. I think it’s pretty important to hold on to those every chance we get.
