Lyons Den Mom

The reason for the season - Children's Christmas pageant

They often say that art imitates life and our church’s recent Christmas Pageant was no exception. Liam, at six years old is the oldest of our five “Lyons Cubs”; he played the part of a shepherd and, much like any other day, he was faithfully followed by our four other kids – kids who on this day were dressed as extremely furry little lambs.

Needless to say, the sight of my small shepherd leading his flock was priceless. Liam was as earnest as could be as he stood on the altar and mumbled along to the music. Ciara, my four year old lamb, had practiced her hymns at home and proudly belted out the first verse to “Away in A Manger”; the highlights for her were the high notes… as in “the litTLE Lord JeSUS lay down his sweet HEAD!”

While Liam and Ciara seemed to at least partially understand the sanctity of the Pageant, the same can not be said of our trio of two-year olds. Dressed as lambs, they acted a bit more like monkeys -- curious little monkeys -- the kind that like to pick things out of each other’s fur or, in this case, fuzzy lamb’s wool. They were also the kind that like to frolic in the aisle, climb over the pews and make a run for the border.

Oh Christmas tree: A tale in four parts

Decorating the tree just isn't what it used to be.  It used to be that we'd gear up for a big day out and hike into the woods somewhere to find the perfect tree.  After several heated but friendly debates about trees that were too tall/short/fat/thin, we'd settle on one, lug it home, bring it inside and decorate it.  Possibly with a nice bottle of wine and a fire in the fireplace.  The next day, we'd wake up, turn on the Christmas tree lights and revel in the glory of our totally terrific tree.

When did this last happen?  Hmmm.  It's hard to remember -- perhaps because for three of the past six years, we had a newborn (or newborns!) at Christmas time and I'm suffering from major case of mom-nesia.  What I can tell you based on our recent tree-trimming experience is that what used to take a day, now takes at least week.  Our annual tree-trimming has become a tale in four parts:

Does the stress of Christmas suck the joy out of the Holiday season?

‘Tis the season! Time to trim the tree, make a list, check it twice, talk to your kids about being naughty or nice. There’s a wintry chill in the air and a spirit of festive warmth all around us.

Why then, are we consistently bombarded with news stories and magazine headlines geared toward “keeping your sanity this holiday season”? Are we making ourselves crazy? All the shopping, baking, entertaining and striving to create the perfect holiday memories seem to be sucking the happiness out of our “Happy Holiday” intentions.

The arrival of the triplets - raising five children under the age of five

“Did you see that?” Dr. Kaplan asked. I was reclining awkwardly on the table as he searched for the baby’s heartbeat with an ultrasound wand. “Did I see what?” I responded rather nonchalantly. I was late for a meeting, we had already confirmed I was pregnant for the third time and I was eager to grab my prenatal vitamin prescription and go. “Well” he said, “I think I see a shadow. Or, it could be a twin.”

WHAT?!!!!!!!! A twin?! Impossible! There are no twins in my family, no twins in my husband’s family and I was quite certain that I was not having twins. I wasn’t even sure we were ready for one more baby with the two toddlers (ages one and three) we had at home. Two more babies were out of the question! Surely, what Dr. Kaplan saw was a shadow.

He sent me to Lenox Hill Hospital to find out and promised that if it was indeed a shadow, I could call him the next day and read him the riot act. But, he cautioned, “If it isn’t a shadow, if it’s a twin, we’re looking at a very different type of pregnancy.”