Un-Schooling And Phone Trouble

We all crashed after the final performance of our Christmas musical and it hit us like a tons of bricks--the cold flu. Thankfully, a couple of days, besides kid coughs, and we were back on our feet. I spoke with a mom today at a homeschool group and she told me she was an unschooler. That sounded really tempting--like I would like to call myself one of those. I might be just a little proud of myself when we had a really good curriculum day, instead of feeling guilty because we weren't getting through a particular amount of pages. Alas, my eldest daughter will have nothing but the texts and structure and tests and all that good stuff :) This season, however, there has been so much baking and partying and field trips and visiting that we simply haven't forged ahead in great educational endeavours--of the textbook sort, at least. The real life kind, now that's happening at every turn. How is December for you?

Since my fingers seem to be typing a rambling post tonight, I might as well add that the phone rang furiously not long ago. I say furiously because, when you can't find it, it seems to ring like it's desperate, doesn't it? I looked in the usual places, but began to search madly and threw objects left and right in passionate determination to find the thing. All the while, it wailed it's desperate, twangy ring. When it stopped, I stood over the place from which the sound was coming. It was the Christmas tree. The circular, red mat that spread around the bottom was covered in child-wrapped gifts with at least a roll of tape stuck every which way on several of them. I had watched earlier as my children had gathered stuff from their rooms and "secretly" bound them in sparkly paper and tape. They giggled with each other and shook the ones with their own names on them.

I bent down and pushed presents aside seeking my phone, now quite curious about who had called. It was no where to be found but I recognized one box, in particular. It had held Oliver's new snow boots and he had been excited to use the empty box. Now, it was left unwrapped but latched on all sides with tape. I picked it up and shook it. It sounded kind of like a phone might be in there. I actually felt guilty as I peeled back the lid and discovered it really was my phone. I thought back to him racing by me this morning, that box in hand, saying, "Mommy, you're gonna love this one!"

Do you know, I wrapped that thing back up again? Since we have another phone downstairs, we'll be hearing that crazy sound coming from under the tree until Christmas morning. But, I will have a happy boy.