It’s funny how in this age of beautiful Instagram feeds that can make you feel like less than you are {it better not just be me in this statement} with perfectly perfect homes and families and what-not, I come along and show you what’s really real.

And I know that there are others like me, who aren’t afraid to show you the real, true Hollywood stories of real life with two littles….The pictures that were just two seconds before that ONE good one that made it to my Insta-feed.  The drama that ensued just moments after that really sweet sibling photo that showed up on my Facebook wall….

REAL life is not all perfectly staged place-settings and floral arrangements, dogs and kids perfectly perched on the arms of beautifully adorned couches and love seats with tchotchkes galore gleaming in the background on freshly painted bookshelves.  Nope, that’s not our real life…and I’ve often wondered what it’s like in those people’s lives…the behind the scenes.

Here’s a little bit of my behind the scenes, just from today.

First, know that I ADORE our two children.  But the Good, Sweet, Baby Jesus Lord knows all that went down today out at the Christmas tree farm, to get the couple of good photos we’ll use for our Christmas card.

 

This is where Reynolds basically said “I donwannatakeaPICTURE!” and then pouted.

And then this is where he took Eliza Jane’s ornament and walked off…And tested our patience, grace and anything holy…as parents.  My shadow of disappointment is there at the bottom…

This is where I realized Eliza Jane had been bitten by an ant on the top of her left foot {if you look closely, you can see it’s starting to turn red…}.  That was fun.  I had one of those “mom moments” of panic wondering if she’d ever been bitten before.  What kind of ant was it?  Was her foot going to blow up {not literally}?  Was she allergic?  Would she stop breathing?  We were in the middle of no-where USA, how quickly could we get to an emergency room?!  Yeah, that was fun.

Reynolds decided to join back in on the family “fun”….

If I put on my sunglasses, that makes me invisible….

This pretty much summed up the time out at the Christmas tree farm today…but, THANKFULLY, we have a couple of really good ones {one, maybe two} that are worthy enough for a Christmas card! :)

 

 

Then, there was the magical time of decorating the Christmas tree this evening.  The tree is my thing.  It’s my happy place in getting our home ready for Christmas and all that it is and represents in my heart and soul.  This afternoon while the kids were napping, I was going to put the whole thing together and Andrew stopped me and said, “You don’t want to let the kids help you decorate.”

Er…um…”No?”  Is that the wrong answer?  I know our kids.  And either it would go really well, or it would be a complete disaster and the thing that I love most about the decorating madness is my tree and I didn’t want to be disappointed…

I saved all the non-breakable ornaments for them to put on the tree.  And with daddy cooking up an {amazing!} supper in the kitchen for us, Michael Bublé’s Christmas music playing on the radio, I took the wild banshees into the living room to finish the Christmas tree.

ALL that Eliza Jane wanted to do was rip off the zebra ornament…that’s it.

And once she ripped it off, she would go hide in the corner…  All the while, her wonderful big brother, who was having a spectacular time, kept right on putting the ornaments on the tree.  Singing “Jingle Bells” and saying, “Momma! We decorating!!”

 

None of it was so awful.  We did laugh and there was a lot of fun.  I got some good photos and we made some memories.

And, it made me realize once again that I am certainly learning about all of my flaws as a parent and realizing that I do NOT have my shiz-nit together and that without the reason for this season, Jesus, I am a failure all day long.  He gives grace to the humble {James 4:6}, and my kids sure do keep me humble.  I pray for ample grace.  When one child refuses to cooperate.  When the other does the opposite of what you request.  When it seems that the day and everything in it seems to be going to H-e-doublehockeysticks in an hand-basket, I pray.

And I know that He hears.  Because most of the time, once the screaming and crying is over, the kindness and love of a child’s heart almost instantly reappears.  And even with giant crocodile-sized tears freshly on his face, he says he’s sorry and that he loves me.

In the moment, it can make you crazy, but those behind the scenes photos remind us that we are so incredibly far from perfect, all of us.  And then one day we will certainly laugh about those photos, and some will even re-enact them :)