Ok, I’m a control freak.

I admit it.

But I can change if I have to, I guess.

I’m not a control freak about everything, just the stuff that matters – oh, lets say for example, like if my kids and my niece made a very cool gingerbread train.

 

Let me back it up – – this very cool gingerbread train I’m talking about.

 

I – I mean, we, we actually did pretty well during the construction phase.

 

We even got the dumb thing to stay standing, which is like a first ever in the Ackermann household.

It was like Olympic Gold.

 

And we managed to decorate our train so that it pretty well resembled the box, yeah, that’s right Wilton, we nailed it!

I even got the quintessential cute picture with the kids standing with the train.

 

So what’s the problem?

 

My four year old ate the candies right off the train when no one was looking.

 

Even the gumdrop buttons.

 

Not the gumdrop buttons!

 

Yes, even the gumdrop buttons!

 

I kept my cool.  I didn’t freak out – there was a minimal amount of nail biting and pacing, but all in all I held it together.  I made a plan and relocated the gingerbread train to the higher altitude of the kitchen counter.

 

And it was right about this point when my hubby started raising his eyebrow at me, silently questioning my internal distress about gumdrops and a cookie train.  I realized, I was being a teensy weensy bit of a control freak.

 

She’s four, I tell myself.

Breathe in.  Breathe out.

Okay, fine – she’s a kid, but if this happens when she comes home from college for visits, there will be words.

 

The hubby says, the point of making these things is to eat them.

I thought the point was to get it standing.

 

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life

Philippians 4:6-7

(The Message)

 

I think that’s God’s way of telling us to chill out.

Enjoy the ride on the train of life – even if someone ate all your gumdrop buttons.

 

So here’s to you and your brood this holiday season!

May it be restful and fun!

 

(In full disclosure, I’m not the only one with issues in my house.  The hubby hates that our kids catch snow and eat it – he says it’s full of pollutants.  But seriously – what kid doesn’t eat snow?!  Yeah, that’s right, who’s not the only weirdo in our house now?)

 

“Cookies” by  kaboompics licensed by Creative Commons by C.C. 2.0