Sounds of the Season

All right. I know. I can't let it go -- the holiday season, that is. I keep saying each post about the holidays is my last one, and this time I think I mean it.

Picture this: It's New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, and we have in attendance one mother, one aunt, three sisters, two husbands, and six children, four of whom are under 7. To handle this kind of innundation requires tremendous skills of patience and organization, both skills that seemed rather lacking over the first weekend of 2010. The phrases, "Laurel and Hardy" and "The Three Stooges" were bandied about more than once.

Before we all welcomed ourselves into the "rut of 2010" as Darling Husband likes to call it, I thought we might have some fun recalling the Sounds of the Season, as heard in our New Year's Festivities.

"Will you stop pushing me! MOOOOMMMMM!!!!!"

*CRASH*

"Oh, no. What was it this time? Don't come out here, Mom. You don't want to know. Whose dumb idea was it to put a full canister of margarita salt where the 2 year olds could reach it?"

"ME NEED GO POTTY!"

"What's the score of the game? Wait. Which game are we watching?"

"GO STATE!"

*CRASH*

"Did you break another wine glass? How many have you broken this weekend?"

"ME NEED GO POTTY!"

"Did we win the game?"

"Is it dinnertime yet?"

"Who wants a nap?" (No kid answered this question. At one time or another, all adults tried to volunteer.)

"I don't like pork."

"No one likes pork, but we keep voting for the politicians anyway."

"No! I don't like pork for dinner!"

"It's New Year. You have to eat pork."

"Can I watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?"

"No. The football game is on."

"Which game are we watching again?"

"ME NEED GO POTTY!"

*CRASH*

"Woops. Seriously? There are more presents from Christmas still? I thought that was just a pile of wrapping paper."

"Stop playing with your brother's toys."

"Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!"

"Oh, no. The baby has gas again."

"Are there enough parents to account for all these kids?"

"Me need a Mouskatool. This is terrible mess." (So sayeth the Toddler and his cousin Toddlerette.)

"Did anyone realize the kids dumped the Megablocks, the Tinkertoys, the Cootie game and all of the marbles all over the bedroom?"

"ME NEED GO POTTY!"

"Okay, whose butt stinks now?"

"What's the score of the game?"

"Is dinner ready YET?"

And on, and on. I'm sure at least once in your life you have had or will have an experience like this. Love it, hate it, or love/hate it, but it is both energizing, exciting, and very, very chaotic. We probably won't be seeing that kind of confluence of children, food, and football for another year.

Happy, Happy New Year everyone ... again ... and still.