Poppy
My son and his girlfriend fostered this little puppy they named Poppy. She really is a cute thing… but man she is a lot of work. We already have 2 golden doodles and a cat (2 of which I might add I inherited during COVID from Myles). Now that Myles is on his own, I originally thought he’d take his dog Sawyer and cat Milo back…but I didn’t know that I would fall in love with both of them and wasn’t really willing to let them go after 2 years with them.
So Myles “fostered” and 3 days later adopted this little menace we call Poppy. She’s a black labradoodle that is filled with energy and apparently has something against Gnomes. I put out all my holiday decor, and my adorable gnomes had only 2 days of peace by my fireplace before Poppy decapitated each of them and redecorated my freshly cleaned house with all the stuffing.
Poppy Looks So Innocent
I’m a huge lover of animals and it is really hard to stay mad at a puppy who really is very sweet when she is monitored. The kids stayed with us this weekend and Poppy enjoyed playing in the snow and running around in our yard til exhaustion with our pups. The Cat on the other hand, was not so enthralled with Poppy. Milo remained contained in one side of the house most of the weekend, seeking refuge from the menace every chance he got. Also, I’m not sure Poppy wouldn’t have tried to eat Milo…even though Milo can usually hold his own, and is truly the boss of our two goldendoodles.
Just when we thought she was tired enough to rest, the kids left her with our pups for 1 hour and joined Dave and I at a restaurant for lunch after our snow hike. When we arrived home, she had gotten into all the puppy poop bags and had black plastic rolls shredded across the hardwood floor. But that wasn’t the worst of it. No, the big bean bag bed that all 3 dogs took their turns in that sat in my family room had been torn to pieces and there were small foam remnants throughout the house.
Imperfect Christmas
After all the mess was cleaned up, we settled in by the fireplace, placed a shock collar on Poppy, and watched our annual “Bad Mom’s Christmas” movie to just be reminded about all the chaos that perfectionism brings to families during the holidays. Holidays can be filled with joy and laughter and be an amazing time for families to just be present and embrace fun during the holidays…Or in many families, they can be a time of stress, chaos, financial destruction, fear of not being enough…and the list goes on.
Many years ago, I vowed to ensure Christmas was a perfectly messy time where I could learn to tolerate disorganization, the kitchen island having a few more belongings on it that I would normally stand for, and a place where my kids wanted to be during the holidays. My house can look pretty clean and organized 90% of the time, but when I have all the grown kids’ bodies draped all over the couches in their pjs, I really am the happiest.
Sometimes when my anxiety builds up because the clutter is more than I can bear, I just breathe and look at them all laughing, filled with complete content for being in a safe space where authenticity is welcome. I’ve learned to breathe my way through the messy and to embrace the joy that the messy brings that makes us human! I hope you and your family can embrace some traditions and fun without letting perfectionism, comparison, and the fear of not enough wreak havoc on your peace.