Finding Christmas Spirit

It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it takes 40 effing minutes to leave the mall parking lot. Yesterday, I took the kids to Night at the Museum. We found a parking spot with minor effort but leaving was a bitch! I told the kids to pee before we left. Weston said he needed to go but could hold it. Great, one less line to wait in. Outside it was bumper to bumper down every row. People couldn't back out and were getting agitated. The parking lot echoed with angry car horns and people shouting, as if either did any good. I hear tell that the white Cadillac in front of me had been in the same row for more than an hour. In front of them was a transit bus with its flashers on. Leave it up to me to turn into THAT row. Then to top it all off, our heater has a mind of its own and decides it wants to shut off as it pleases. By now both of my loverly children have to pee. *Insert teeth-chattering and pee-pee dance here.

Finally, a kind middle-aged gentlemen emerged from the Cadillac and marched up to the intersection. I chatted with a few passerbys and turns out he was late to work so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Traffic slowly but surely started lurching forward. Car horns subsided. I said goodbye to the spot I'd idled in for no less than 20 minutes. I must've felt the tingly warmth of holiday spirit because I could've hugged that stranger. Or maybe the boys weren't the only ones that had to pee. After our parking lot adventure, we were pleased as punch to arrive home. It was a race for the one bathroom. One of the downfalls of our small house.

We woke up this morning to snowy bliss and the boys were so excited. It'll be a white Christmas after all. Christmas just isn't the same without a little snow. And to the man who was late for work that risked his own well-being to direct traffic, thank you. For Christmas, you gave me my sanity that night and even the hope that there is still Christmas spirit out there among us if we are willing to sacrifice a little for others.