If you want to have a toddler present meltdown, than give him a present in its original toy packaging that cannot be removed while staying in a very nice resort far from home. There may be other factors that contribute to the meltdown, but have a crane screwed to the bottom of a box without a screwdriver nearby doesn’t help the situation. JDaniel just didn’t have the self control to keep his cool when after removing part of the packaging of  his new remote controlled crane realized we would need a Philips head screwdriver to remove the rest.

This real life situation got worse when JDaniel had to go through it surrounded by a circle of my husband’s relatives waiting for his reaction to the wonderful gift Nana has just given to you. He had all eyes on him.

Here is how the situation unfolded from JDaniel’s perspective:

You feel the heat start to rise in your face and your demand that it has to be possible to get it out of the box. Mom has just removed a talking garbage truck you have also been given from its package. This present should be able to be freed too. Words of frustration start to fly out of your mouth and your feet start a little stomping dance.

Your mom and dad look like their faces are turning red. Your mom tries to calm you down with the reasons you have to wait and why the garbage truck is enough to play with just now. You think they just don’t get it so, you try telling them what you need again. Mom decides what you need is time out of the conference room the family has gathered in to have a Time Out in the hall. She warns you that if you can’t settle down you will need to go to the hotel room and get ready for bed. All the while she is hugging you tight and trying to help you calm down.

You finally calm down and can be walked back into the conference room. Dad sits you on his lap and you get to watch the other two young children in the family get to open their gifts. They receive dolls that are easily removed from their boxes and you wonder why remote controlled cranes are so difficult to remove theirs.

When your cousins finally finish opening their presents, you quietly drag the partially boxed crane and garbage truck under a tablecloth draped table and try to enjoy the rest of the evening resigned to the fact that the crane will remain in the box until you get home.

Lesson I learned as a mom:

• Carry a small set of tools on a family vacation.
• Pray that the toy packaging design for young children’s toys will change.
• Remove all packaging before giving a child a gift. They don’t need it in the original box.
• Work with JDaniel on handling different situations a little better even though you know it is hard at almost three. Helping my child through tough times will help him handle them better later on.

I really needed to get to the post office and the bank on Saturday morning. I had a deposit I needed to make and a giveaway to put in the mail. It was 10:30 a.m. and both locations close early on Saturday. I was in a rush to get out the door. JDaniel decided he didn’t want to run errands he wanted to stay home with his dad. “I am not coming,” he pronounced. Pronouncements don’t get him very far, but lately he has been making them more often. Well, Dad was in the middle of paperwork that needed to be done and since JDaniel couldn’t be counted on to play quietly the whole time I needed to be gone he needed to come with me. “Let’s go,” I said gently shoving his arms into his winter coat. “This will be fun!” I said as cheerfully as I could muster hoping that God would grace with us with a miracle as we ran errands.

The bank stop was quick. We were able to get through the drive thru without a wait. The teller sent a lollipop out with my copy of the deposit slip. “Did we get one?” I was asked from the backseat. “Yes, we did and it will be perfect to have after lunch.” I replied. JDaniel didn’t care about when he got to eat it just that a lollipop was given to us.

We then headed to the ACE Hardware store right down the street. It houses a small outpost of the post office. It usually has a long line and tons of little items little fingers can pick up and move to a new location, but it was right down the street. The parking lot was crowded and people were streaming in and out of the store. This looked like this stop might turn into a nightmare. I was so anxious about JDaniel losing it and having to come back on Monday that I walked in the door farthest away from the post office instead of the one right next to it.

Entering through the door we did led to a miracle. Right before our eyes was a popcorn machine filled with freshly popped corn. Beside the popcorn machine should an angel wearing ACE Hardware apparel handing out bags of free popcorn. JDaniel and I waited hand in hand for his turn to get a bag of popcorn. Once it was procured we walked slowly to the post office area and waited in line to send the giveaway package. When I say slowly, I mean slowly. A toddler with one hand holding a bag of popcorn and one hand reaching in to pick up the next puff of corn has trouble walking quickly. He had to move very slowly through a store.

There was only one lady in front of us when we got in the post office line. I was a little relieved. It should have taken no time at all but, she couldn’t decide on the design she wanted for her Christmas stamp. It would seem like she made a decision and then she would change to a different stamp. She changed her mind three or four times. I started wishing for my own bag of popcorn. I didn’t dare take a handful of JDaniel’s. If we finished the bag before we paid the postage for the package, the nuts and bolt in small drawers beside us could become the focus of a toddler with busy fingers.

Thankfully the bag held out! There was even popcorn to spare. JDaniel and I headed to the grocery store next store to get milk. It took a long time to get to the milk section at the bag of the story due to serious concentration required to reach to the bottom of the bag and get the final puffs of corn, but we made it without needing a cart or getting distracted by the selection of fruit chews displayed on the aisle we walked down.

That makes ACE the place for my little toddler man! We may need to start every shopping trip there.

In my family growing up, there weren’t many traditions. My mom would set up a crèche. We would always have a crooked tree. (It didn’t matter if it was a real tree from a lot or one we cut down or an artificial tree from a box.)We opened one gift the night before Christmas. We visited with my dad’s mom on Christmas Day and would then load up the car and drive to my mom’s parents in New Jersey. We would arrive late at night and would have Christmas morning all over again the day after Christmas.

Since we spend Thanksgiving with my husband’s family, we always have my mom over for Christmas dinner. My husband has a friend come for dinner with us too. I try to make a wonderful Christmas dinner. We open presents that are under a two-foot tree due to my fears of JDaniel pulling down a tree and ornaments crashing everywhere. There are also small gifts in stockings hung by the mantle with the care that everyone gets to open.

This year I am finally ready to introduce some new traditions and maybe a full-size tree. We have put up the crèche, but this year two things are missing. Jesus has been put away and will make His appearance on Christmas Day. The shepherds are also missing. They will begin their journey to the manger on the far side of the house and will move slowly toward the living room where the crèche is located every couple of days. (Shepherds have to move slowly so they don’t lose their sheep.) They will arrive after dinner on Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

I really want JDaniel to understand that Christmas is about the birth of Christ and not just about great toys and beautiful lights so, following a wonderful Christmas meal I will be serving a birthday cake for Jesus. I hope we sing and rejoice in His birth the same way the shepherds and wise men did thousands of years ago.

What Christmas traditions do you have?