I know it’s still “the season”, as evidenced by the loud celebration of BOXING WEEK SALES in the stores (I’m such a hypocrite, I’m advertising on this blog for the amazon.ca boxing week sales lol)… but I’m ready to move on.

The Christmas theme was fun, but it’s time to return this blog to its more (ahem) ‘mature’ theme of green, growing serenity!  Peace.

I just found out that I won one of them, and I’m pretty sure it’s the first blog contest I ever entered!  I won a CD of Latin Carols from Classical Academic Press (ooh, they have Latin primers for children… tempting!!!)

Especially since I am by trade and training a classical musician, with a love for ancient music, this is a wonderful prize for me and I just can’t believe my luck!  And as an added bonus, I found a publisher of some very nice-looking homeschool resources I’d previously been unaware of.  Merry Christmas!

My oven has a big splat of apple pie runover on the bottom which I keep forgetting to clean up.  I must remember to run a cleaning cycle before cooking Christmas dinner.

Along with the cookies, I need to make a big batch of my mom’s famous chocolate macaroons.  And I just realized, I totally forgot to get gumdrops for my (other) grandmother’s famous gumdrop cake!

Then I need to wrap my son’s gifts while he’s at his dad’s for the weekend.  And dig out my box of preserves which I set aside for Christmas back in the fall, and organize who gets which salsa, jams, or pickles.

Oh, and we mustn’t forget the tidying that must be done before Christmas dinner.  We’re having a few guests so things should be at least, well, non-gross.

To top all this off, we’re in the middle of buying a car.  Some idiot ran head-on into my husband (crossed 4 lanes into oncoming traffic, bam right into hubby), and totalled our car.  We just got our insurance settlement, and drove 2 hours away yesterday to where the cheap cars live.  We found the one we want, now it’s just paperwork.  Over Christmas!  At least we’re not using the entire settlement on the new car, so we’ll actually be able to bank a bit towards the debt!

Then we returned the rental car which insurance no longer pays for since they’ve reached a settlement — even though we don’t actually have the money yet, or another car.  Would you believe there was damage on it?  Three weeks we’ve had this car and have been ultra-super-duper-mega-careful with it.  We’ve even been regularly checking it for damages.  Nada, nothing, zip.  Until yesterday.  Somehow, between 3 days ago and yesterday, a big dent grew in the front hood.  It could not have been from any type of collision — it looks like someone kicked it, or fell on it.

So now we have to pay for that.  So much for banking the extra from the settlement.

Still, we’re coming out ahead.  We’re getting a car that’s two years younger than the one that got smashed, and with 100,000 fewer kilometers, plus putting a little bit into the bank.  It’s sort of a nice Christmas present, I guess.  It’s just such a hassle.  We should be grateful.  He wasn’t at all injured, for instance.  We should be thankful.  It’s a blessing in disguise.  It’s a big ol’ silver lining.

Meh.  It’s all true.  But it’s still a pain!

It was a long, long evening as all seven boys had to do all six events. They started with the floor routine, and everyone gasped as Flipper went into his full splits! I was quite surprised that he was the only one with full splits, most of them only got halfway down. Flipper has always been so floppy and unfocused, I was so very impressed at how clean his execution was when it counted! He ended up getting second place on the floor!

He also rocked their worlds on the pommel horse. In level 1, the pommel horse routine consists simply of making 5 circles around the “mushroom”, a simplified entry-level pommel. He was the only one able to do all 5 in one go, the others did 5 circles one at a time. He took gold in that event!

Those were his strongest events. He also tied for third on the rings and did a nice handspring over the vault. He was least prepared for the high bar (but did quite well all things considered) and he was decent on the parallel bars.

The greatest surprise was at the end, when he scored silver in the Overall ranks! All these years of paying waaaaaaay too much money, hours and hours and hours spent back and forth to the gym, wondering what would ever come of it. We did it because he loved it, whether or not he ever became “competitive”, but he was often so unfocused in training and unmotivated to really do WELL that we often wondered if it was really worth it.

It was worth it.

He still goofs around in class. He still could probably accomplish more if he applied himself more. He’s still floppy — his coach says he just has a hard time controlling his long limbs! But he has strengths, as well. He still loves it. And as time goes on, we’re seeing the results, in his body, in his skills.

I have struggled to trust him to find his path. I have tried to impose my will and my thoughts on what direction his life should take. Oh, the mistakes I have made in homeschooling through the years will surely be the subject of many future posts! But in this one area, in the gymnastics, I trusted him despite my skepticism. Despite the financial hardships. Despite the time commitments. And oh boy, were we ever glad we homeschool with those time commitments! I cannot imagine doing all those hours at the gym AND school AND homework.

Despite several years of really not being convinced of his dedication and motivation, I trusted him. And now I’m starting to see the fruits of that trust and it’s a kick in the teeth I need. He will blossom into the young man he was born to be, and I don’t have to henpeck him or rule over him with an iron fist. I need to learn to trust that innate drive for growth and development that is in all children and not WORRY so much about all his little foibles and difficulties. Left to follow his own passions, he will come through and come through beautifully.

Oh I should also mention — he came in silver, who got the overall gold? His friend from our club. He got gold in nearly every event in fact! We were so excited to share 1st and 2nd on the podium with our friends. And just to be the cherry on top of the whole shebang — I won one of the raffle prizes, an enormous Christmas gift basket, full of chocolates and drinks and decorations! It was all just meant to be.