Oops…

Me, brag or show off? Not real often, but there was that one Thanksgiving that I fell into this trap when a guest asked me the secret of my always perfect, never lumpy gravy. With great flourish I decided to not only tell her, but demonstrate to her my secret. After thickening the gravy, I got out my strainer and proceeded to pour the gravy into it. The only problem was, I did it over the sink and forgot to put a pan under the strainer. There went all my perfect gravy down the drain!

Well, that is a Thanksgiving that my family laughs about often, although turkey and mashed potatoes without gravy is a bit dry.

Why not share with us some of your holiday blunders? They usually begin with, “Remember the year that…”

Like the time I forgot to get my granddaughter the gift card she wanted for Christmas and ended up giving her a bag with just a few little “extras” in it. Thankfully, I caught my mistake and was able to give her cash.

Or the year our water softener got stuck and recycled over and over. We woke up to a flooded girl’s basement bedroom on Christmas morning. My husband was supposed to be one of the Wise Men at church that morning, but ended up playing janitor at home instead.

How about the year our children (and my dear husband) wanted the biggest Christmas tree our house would hold, and it fell over three times? We ended up putting anchors in the wall and putting a wire around the top of the tree to hold it up.

At the time these seem to be terrible situations, but they end up being the years we remember the most.

It’s often easy to laugh at these situations in retrospect, but how about learning to laugh at ourselves or our mistakes as they happen? I’ve found relaxing and enjoying the moment can help to make a lot more fond memories.

My children love to share the story of how I offered my chair to one of them so they could reach a high shelf and immediately turned around and sat on the floor – where my chair was supposed to be! They were all laughing at my forgetfulness. I could have responded angrily at being laughed at, but instead I picked up the little hand vac from the wall and began vacuuming under my desk. When they said, “Mom, what are you doing?”  I replied, “I may as well vacuum under my desk while I’m down here.”

Since laughter is good for the soul, I hope some of my stories have made you laugh a little and that you will share your stories with us, so we can enjoy them too.

Finding Joy in the Journey,
Phyllis
Phyllis Sather
Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness at:
http://www.Phyllis-Sather.com

© 2007 Phyllis Sather
All rights reserved
Contact me at: Phyllis@Phyllis-Sather.com