Not ME! Monday

Just days before Christmas, and thankfully I have been able to keep it all together. And that is only because I plan my time so efficiently and am always completely organized. So NOTHING went awry in this house. Nope! Just another charmed week in the Nelson home, where all is peaceful, quiet, and so very together.

So, of course, there is no reason for me to share a shamelessly pathetic Christmas card mishap. You see, I am always aware of the needs in my home, and I keep us fully stocked on all necessities-- including printer paper. So I DID NOT run out of paper while printing our Christmas letter, find some I let the kids doodle on a bit, print on the back of that paper, and then note 'A special Christmas doodle from the Nelson children', as if the scrap paper was specially made. Who would do such a thing??? NOT ME!!!

And I did not tell my husband we needed to make an 'emergency' trip to the grocery store so I could get some baking ingredients to make goodie baskets for the neighbors that have been so wonderful to us, and helped me tremendously while he was in Iraq this year, all the while hiding my TRUE intent. I promise, I would never tell a fib that tugged at his heart, only because I knew it was the fastest way to get chocolate and marshmallows to make the rocky road I had been craving for days. I would never! NOT ME!!!

As I've said before, my children are INCREDIBLY well-behaved. Really- they are. People stop me on the street and say, 'My, you have done a wonderful job raising polite, kind, and lovely little children-- you should get some kind of award, fine lady.' (Oh----I've gone too far, haven't I?) Anyway--- so keeping with the well-behaved theme, our Christmas picture was easy as pie, and I did not stoop to rewards and threats in order to get smiles from my sweet children. I did NOT STERNLYsay to my daughter 'Our family and friends DO NOT need to your strawberry shortcake under things, so please, for the love of Pete, cross your LEGS!'.

I did NOT relent on picture #18 and give Jack a candy cane so he would sit still and quit pulling his Santa hat off. And, finally, I did NOT, on picture #24, threaten to withhold candy canes from Kaiti and Tyler if they did not give me real smiles, and not the 'My teeth are coated with icky junk so I have to keep my lips far away from them' smiles. And, since my amazing parenting skills are matched by photographic skills, I did not give up and settle for a photo that had the majority of my children looking in my general direction, legs crossed, hats on, smiles as close to normal as possible.

NOT ME!!! I got them smiling beautifully, posing effortlessly on take 1!!!

So, there is my Christmas edition of NOT ME! MONDAY. It feels so good I imagine it must feel good to confess one's shortcomings here and unburden oneself. But since I have had another A+ week, I will leave the confessions to all ya'll!!