Why This Mom Won’t Be Doing Mother’s Day Brunch

It’s almost Mother’s Day and I have been having conversations with my husband about how we would celebrate. I had this great idea of a picnic but the weather decided not to cooperate. Now I’m switching gears in an effort to have a low-key day.

I’m a fairly new mom, but it didn’t take me long to realize the chaos that ensues during Mother’s Day brunch when you have a baby and a toddler in tow. Two years ago we started celebrating with dinner on Saturday to beat the crowd. Last year, a very excited Juliana decided that our dinner celebration was the perfect time to have a big meltdown.

This was caused by the rather large crowd that overwhelmed her. Apparently, lots of other people wanted to avoid the crowds and got out on Saturday too. Juliana didn’t care for this at all and finally ran off a rather rude-looking man who sat next to us. Every time she screamed, he gave us a look and a loud puff of air. I gave him a look back that said “Well, I’m certainly not leaving.”

This year, I’m on a mission. I don’t want stress, I don’t want to wait for my meal. And I certainly don’t want to manage a meltdown. I can save those fun goodies for the other 364 days of the year. So this is what I have decided. I’m staying in! Well, not all day of course, but some of it. My morning will be spent lingering in my bed ALONE with a great cup of coffee. Then at some point, I’ll get dressed for a family outing to pick up some yummy takeout. Now that’s a Mother’s Day!

What took me so long to ask for this? I’ve been dancing around this for the past few days. But during the drive to see my mother-in-law, I told my husband “This is what I want for Mother’s Day…Are you okay with that?” And guess what? He was. He idled when I said, “And I don’t want to go to church.” But when I explained that I didn’t want all the chaos that goes with getting us out the door, he understood.

I’m excited about re-designing my Mother’s Day. After I thought about it for a while, it made perfectly good sense. Aren’t we always shuffling and organizing things to accommodate our kids? Somehow I forgot it can work for me too. Anyway, who needs a loud, fancy brunch when I can enjoy my day with my favorite people and have some me-time too. It’s gonna be a great Mother’s Day!