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2007 Family Christmas Card

For those of you who want to feel like a superior parent, please take a look at my 2007 Parenting Report Card.   You know that voice in your head that tells you that you are not measuring up and that you are not the "perfect mother"?  I hear that voice quite a bit, especially around the holiday season.  I just can't seem to get it together and pull everything off like some people can at the holidays.  Here are some highlights from my Parenting Report card for 2007.

1. My youngest daughter has a head cold that has lasted for over 30 days.  I took her to the doctor in early December but we haven't gone back. 
2. There is enough dog hair in my house to stuff a comforter...a King Size comforter.
3. My older daughter is not going through 8th grade confirmation at our church for a number of reasons.  My Catholic guilt is huge over this issue.
4. I've overdrawn my younger daughter's hot lunch account two times this year, forcing her to go without lunch.
5. My oldest daughter is nearly always the last child picked up from basketball practice.

I won't bore you with the details of my report card but there are quite a few items on the list.

The picture you see in this post is my 2007 Christmas card. I couldn't even get the entire family into one picture! You may notice the picture of me (via Family.com blog) as well as school pictures of my kids.  The Christmas tree is from last year.  My efforts at holiday pictures were lame but the card, which was designed by Marmalade Ink, makes my old pictures look fabulous.

I hope this post does not sound whiny but I'm sure all of you know how I feel.  This past year I've felt like I'm always a little late or behind on everything.  Despite the fact I have purchased all the right magazines and books on how to stay organized, I am not yet organized.  I do believe that my quest for organization is a lost cause but I would at least like to be able to find a PEN or pad of paper when I want to write something down.

There is a great part in one of my favorite books, where the main character has a "court of motherhood" in her head.  Kate, the main character in "I Don't Know How She Does It", imagines herself in front of the court of motherhood, where they judge her to be a bad mother for a variety of different reasons.  I am not doing this book justice but if you read this book, you will laugh out loud.  Go here to see a link for  "I Don't Know How She Does It" by Allison Pearson.

If I had to grade my report card for 2007, I would probably give myself a solid "C".  What about your family?  How do you think you fared in the parenting department this year?  I'd love to know, unless you are one of those perfect parents.  If you are perfect, please keep it to yourself as the rest of us are trying to measure up.