It's our Christmas card - from five years ago. And hands down, it'll always be my favorite. Or maybe I should say my "fur-vorite."
The reason though may not be obvious right away.
Yes, those little faces are adorable.
But look a bit closer.
Maybe you already see what I definitely DIDN'T see while ordering them.
It doesn't read "Merry Christmas" as my tired eyes assumed.
Nope. That's "MEOWY Christmas" right there.
For a family that has never owned a cat. Are really not cat people. Oh and also, the dear old Dad in that picture happens to have a super allergic asthma inducing reaction to them.
It was like a magic eye poster - I didn't see it, until all of a sudden it jumped off the paper. I was sitting up in bed late one night stuffing the envelopes; exhausted but feeling like maybe I had accomplished one small thing in doing Christmas cards that year. Then that little mouse on the card slowly came into focus, another detail my distracted self apparently missed while ordering them. Wondering why there would be a mouse on the card, I started studying the whole thing a little closer. And then boom, there it was - 'MEOWY Christmas.'
And we laughed our heads off.
I shared it on my personal facebook page and everyone else laughed along too.
My friends with young kids cracked up - because they knew exactly the kind of tired that makes you do things like that.
My friends with grown kids smiled remembering back to those days.
There was pun after pun in the comments. "You've got to be kitten me." "It's purrrrr-fect." "I'm paws-itive it'll be a favorite." "It'll be a funny tail for years to come." "Such a cat-astrophe." "I hope Santa Paws is good to all this year!"
My mom bought me a mug that says "Meowy Christmas." Sipping from it right now, of course.
We laughed so hard. And it was so so good to laugh.
Because somehow the whole thing just perfectly summed up motherhood. And it buckled us right over.
We try! We try so so hard right?! We're spread too thin. We're exhausted. And still we're showing up and throwing in.
And every now and then we think we have a win - like we actually got Christmas cards out!
Just to realize we totally messed up.
So we laugh. Because we have to. Because life with kids IS funny.
Try. Try. Mess up. Laugh. Or sometimes cry. Keep trying.
It's motherhood.
And this card will fur-ever be my favorite for just that.
Meowy Christmas sweet friends!
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