How my Grinch plans got stolen!

            What a week we had last week!  Sick kids, changing work schedules, and not one night where Tim and I were both home together with the kids.  We so rarely have this happen.  In fact, a month ago my eleven year old son overheard a conversation Tim and I were having about statistics we had heard concerning the importance of families eating dinner together, and my son asked, in confusion, how a family could possibly avoid eating their dinners together!  Unfortunately, this week, he had the chance to find out!

            As if the busyness and unpredictability of our days  was not enough...  I had seen something on Pinterest I really wanted to do.  It was a recipe for a dessert using lime sherbet and the suggestion to have it while watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.  Now, that is one of my favorite Christmas movies (the old half hour animated one, not the newer live action one).  And, my daughter had been requesting sherbet for dessert for a while.  I thought it would be fun to buy the kids the green dessert (skipping the fancy recipe and just having the sherbet plain) and curl up as a family with the movie.  I thought it would be even more fun to surprise the kids with my plan.  

As SO often happens, my plans did not work out as I hoped.  First, I wanted to have our movie/dessert night on Tuesday evening, but the aforementioned sick child and changing work schedules prevented that.  Wednesday was out from the start. So, Thursday was my second choice but-- did I mention changing work schedules?  Thursday did not work out.  Friday did not seem an option- I was “on call” at work and would likely have to help close the store that night.   

It was beginning to look like our Grinch movie and dessert surprise was doomed to failure.  But then it turned out, I was not needed at work on Friday and would be able to spend the evening with my family.  Finally, a night that we would ALL be together.  I decided we would load the kids up in the car and swing by the store to buy our treat, then watch our movie before bed.  

            A perfect plan, right?   But on the five minute car ride home from the store with our sherbet, my daughters got in an argument.  My nine year old let her temper get the best of her.  Her behavior was such that she did not deserve a special treat and was told she would have to go right to bed without dessert or movie when we got home.  

I hate, sometimes, having to follow through on discipline.  Our daughter came to us, in tears after putting her p.j.’s on and brushing her teeth and apologized, begging to be included in the fun.  We felt bad.  But, Tim and I try very hard to stand firm, in order to teach our children that their choices and actions DO have consequences.  So we sent her off to bed alone while the rest of the family shared a special evening. 

Our dessert was yummy, and the movie was cute and meaningful, as always.  But, without the whole family in on the fun, our night was not as special as it was supposed to be.  So much for my plans……