A Toy Drum Stick and a Little Shiny Ornament

"Girls! Settle down!" I said as I was making dinner. "Girls I said calm down!" I could feel a mommy moment coming on as I continued to prep dinner. "OKAY!" I shouted. "Time out!" The girls went into time out for a second time for rough housing. The girls had been quietly playing earlier in the evening but something seemed to turn on inside them. A switch if you will.

It seems that every time that Scot is not going to be home for dinner, that evening is when all chaos breaks loose and disobedience soon follows. Although to be honest with you, I am not sure if they misbehave anymore when Scot doesn't join us for dinner, or rather that it appears that way because Scot, my 'sidekick' and my 'co-parent,' isn't around at the usual time and my patience with the day and 'mommy hood' is drawing to a close quicker than it would otherwise as I am dabbling with single parenting.

As dinner was warming I got the girls out of their prison term and once again told them that when we rough house the chances of someone getting hurt and such is much greater. As I went back to the dinner duties I heard the sounds of rough play begin once again. I shouted from the kitchen for their current activity to stop and then I went back to the food and scooping it out upon our plates when I heard it. Heard an all too familiar sound that most parents will have heard at some point in their parenting that often is associated with the holidays.

It was the sound of small splintering of simple glass. Glass from a shiny little ornament. Not knowing which ornament it was or what exactly occurred that brought the little shiny ornament to an abrupt end, one thing was certain--a Christmas ornament was broken and the girls direct disobedience was the cause.

As I quickly rounded the dining room and entered the living room I could see Skye looking stunned on her hands and knees, picking up red shattered glass for which I shouted to her to leave it alone because I didn't want her to get cut because they were sharp. As I got to the tree, I found a red glass ornament with a familiar gold design on each piece. Skye broke an ornament that one of my students had given to me 5 years prior. I became angry especially as I surveyed the ornament carnage in my living room and beneath the tree and through out the presents. Parts of the ornament had made it to the adjoining wall and sliding door. Below the branch that hung the remaining small jagged piece of the little shiny ornament to the tree by its lonely hook was the culprit--a toy drum stick. A toy drum stick that appeared to have been tossed... hurling through the air at the tiny little red shiny ornament with the gold details.

Skye looked as though guilt had suddenly seized her and she was mourning the loss of the ornament.

After a long time out was sentenced for the two little defendants and after I cleaned the carnage and dinner was finally served, the girls were paroled from their time of incarceration, we proceed to have the most quiet dinner as a family we have ever had. No one muttered a single word except for Baby Ian. Skye sat with tears in her eyes, partly from my reaction to the crime, partly from the punishment of the crime and partly for the pretty shiny ornament that had been doomed to the trash can and the vacuum cleaner.

Sometimes things happen in our lives to help shape us. However, there are other times in our lives that things happen as a direct result of disobeying God's warnings. We choose to do what we want to do even though we know that our heavenly Father is telling us to do something different. God has our best interests in mind. Sometimes though we still knock our "shiny little ornament" off the tree. It is not fun and it can be difficult but we have to accept where we placed ourselves. The good thing, however, is God is like me--a parent. Even though we may still have to deal with the consequences that our direct disobedience caused, He doesn't want us to get cut and so He helps pick up the broken 'pieces.'