I love seeing all the darling family pictures from Christmas Sunday services. It’s embarrassing to say I even envy them a bit.

Our Sunday service today in retrospect was, well, comical. We usually try our darnedest to arrive to church at least 10 minutes early, allowing us to get the spot we want. We prefer having an easy exit for when (yes, when, not if) our daughter, Brynn, melts down.

Today, we made it to church, wait for it…15 MINUTES EARLY. We were killing it. Unfortunately, Brynn was already struggling the moment we sat. It wasn’t going to be the beautiful, spirit filled Christmas meeting we hoped for.

Honestly, I don’t know why I expected anything different, but maybe I was hoping for a Christmas miracle.

Have I mentioned I am ready for the holiday season to be over? Don’t get me wrong, I love this time of year. BUT, it’s rough with little ones, especially one with sensory sensitivities. They are heightened with all that is going on and the result isn’t pretty. Frankly, it’s been a rough couple of weeks.

I digress.

After recovering from meltdown number one, Brynn and I returned to the chapel to join the rest of our family.

She cuddled on my lap and then, after 7.5 seconds of being settled, the fire alarm blared through the building and everyone had to evacuate.

This event, of course, set Brynn off all over again. Yay.

As soon as we got outside, Mark gave me the look and asked, “Are we calling it?”

“That’s a hard yes,” I replied already heading towards our car.

Brynn wasn’t happy about leaving, but honestly, there isn’t much we can do to win once she’s in meltdown mode.

So, no, we don’t have a cute, picture perfect Christmas photo. Instead we have one of Brynn asleep in her carseat while Mark ran into a store and Pace and I took selfies.

AND, I wouldn’t change a thing. I love this family of mine.

In fact, maybe a Christmas miracle did occur. We were never going to enjoy today’s meeting like I wished for. Just maybe, the alarm being set off allowed us to just let go of unrealistic expectations AND literally go. I’ll count it as one of God’s little blessings.

Happy Holidays everyone!