Mothers and Christmas

After attending the Rigby Christmas party last weekend, I got to thinking about all of the effort that Marsha (my mother-in-law) went to in planning this party. I can't even guess how many hours she must have spent planning and cooking and making and doing.

She made ornaments for each of the 15 grandchildren, bought the supplies and made gingerbread for the gingerbread houses, she cut out each grand child's name with cookie cutters and gave them each their name in sugar cookies so they could decorate them, she prepared a 12 days of Christmas packet for each of us so that we could carry on this tradition. She cooked and baked and sewed and cleaned and I could go on and on and on. I know she made many of her gifts this year. She canned her famous zucchini relish and gave each of the sons a dozen jars. (And it is soooo good!) Is this woman amazing or what?!

I got to thinking that it is so easy to take all of this for granted. She works so hard to make these parties special for everyone and I don't think we always stop and think about the effort that goes into them.

I kind of think this is the case with all mothers at Christmas time. They cook and bake and shop and wrap and decorate and send cards and take packages to the needy and I could go on and on here.

When I was growing up, I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the Rudolph or Charlie Brown Christmas specials as my mom was working away in the kitchen. She would bring me treats which I thought were the best ever. But, I never stopped to think about how much time she spent making sure that Christmas was nice for the rest of us.

Now that I'm a mother, I am beginning to appreciate all of this effort more as I am doing some of the same things that my mom did. But the beautiful thing is....I absolutely love every minute of it! I think I would work 24/7 if I could to make sure that everyone had a nice Christmas. It's what mother's do, right?

So, thank you Marsha for your hours and hours of work on our behalf. The party was amazing! And thanks to my mom for all of the popcorn balls and tv crunch and fun Christmas mornings and memories. I hope that I can pass on the fun and beautiful memories that these two amazing women have given me.