I heard his little footsteps at 4:30 a.m. “Mama, the stockings are full. Can we open presents?” I had finally collapsed into bed at 4 a.m. after staying up wrapping, cooking, and stuffing the stockings to make Christmas morning as Norman Rockwell as I possibly could. I told him to hold his horses until 7 a.m. and rolled over for a few hours of exhausted slumber.
I was thankful I wasn’t working overnight Christmas Eve like I had the previous year. There is nothing worse than getting slammed and stuck working late when I have two little boys waiting impatiently for me to get home Christmas morning. Yet even Christmases I’m not working, I somehow never manage to be the happy, excited, picture-perfect Christmas mom. I’m usually the haggard, exhausted, don’t-point-a-camera-at-me mom on Christmas morning. Such is the trouble with trying to juggle a full-time compliment of ER shifts and motherhood during the holidays.
For the full article, please visit Emergency Medicine News.
Sandra Scott Simons is an emergency physician. This article originally appeared in Emergency Medicine News.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com
