Once a upon a time ago, I thought the road to hell was paved with good intentions, then Easter time came and thought Hell was all about the Peeps donuts.
But now that it is Christmas time here, I found a new layer of Hell from none other then Princess Lily!
You most likely by this point are asking what could be that awful that I could refer to Hell, Christmas and Lily pretty much in the same paragraph.
Well, I will more then gladly set the scene for you.
It was a Monday about 2 weeks out of Christmas. I worked all morning while Lily was in nursery school and thought I would get a jump start on my Christmas cards by going to the post office after I picked her up.
My mom (or grandma) was with us and figured they could wait in the car while I ran QUICKLY (my first mistake) into our local post office for stamps.
That was my first grand mistake waiting until 2 weeks before Christmas to do this errand and right around lunchtime nonetheless.
The Dreaded Layer of Hell or The US Post Office….
As soon as I entered the post office (or one of the layers of hell), I found myself standing on a line longer then a kid trying to do word problems the Common Core way!
No joke, there was two people checking out a line of 20 or so post office customers for all such tasks, as mailing packages to the smallest like myself just wanting to buy a couple of books of stamps.
I stood on the line and text messaged my mom to let her know what was going on. Thankfully Lily and my mom were fine and warm in my heated car.
Forty minutes later in this Post Office induced layer of Hell, I got up to the counter, where I was shown the Christmas themed stamps.
And then Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer Made His Appearance…
I decided on the Rudolf the Reindeer themed stamps, as both my girls are just loving the reindeer with the red lit up nose this year more then ever.
I thought this would please them to no end to have him on our Christmas card envelopes (what was I thinking?!).
By the way, I was informed for these stamps, I could only purchase books of 20. I needed 50 or so, but if I were to do 50, I could only do 40 of Rudolf stamps and have to break up the last 10 with something else. I opted to do 60 and most likely be sending out Emma’s birthday thank you cards in July with the leftovers (hey I don’t mail much these days!).
I make my purchase and am on my way (seriously 40 minutes and took me less then 2 minutes to make my purchase).
Back in the car….
I return, where I inform Lily about the Rudolf stamps.
The whole car ride home, I hear Lily asking, “When can I see the Rudolf stamps?”
[Tweet “How #rudolf stamps lead to hell on earth and not so #merrykids”]
Rudolf Stamps or Hell on Earth?….
Once home, I finally show them to her and I as I am putting them back in the envelope, I see Lily’s whole face drop.
About 5 minutes of me asking to find out, she wanted a Rudolf stamp, because she thought it was something she could play with. Even after another 5 minutes of explaining that I needed them to mail our Christmas cards out, she still was inconsolable.
My reaction?….
I laughed so hard I was crying.
Yes, I am a terrible, mean mommy. But still I just couldn’t help it. Because she seriously thought I bought her $60 worth of Rudolf stamps to stick all over the place and play with!
The Reality of of the Rudolf Stamps….
By the way, it took me a day to get to the bottom of this conundrum, when I was sitting in the car before taking Lily to pre-school during a Nor Easter rain storm (yes sadly all I was missing at this point was Noah and his Ark!).
It was then that Lily asked to see my tattoo.
For the life of me, I had no clue what she was talking about as I don’t have a tattoo and have never had one to be honest.
Finally she asks in her little sheepish voice, “But I want to see where you put your Rudolf tattoo!”
Yup, Princess Lily thought I kept all the Rudolf Stamps for myself and tattooed myself with them.
Again, I couldn’t make this up if I tried. And this latest Princess crazed installment was brought to you all because I wanted to mail out my Christmas cards to family and friends!!
Now for your viewing pleasure a clip from the famous Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (because I still love the little guy even after all this!):
April says
So adorable and annoying all at the same time! Bee does the same thing and I always wonder if it’s ok to laugh when she’s having a breakdown, but I think it’s like either I laugh or breakdown in tears. I hope you picked a good place to put your tattoo!
Seana Turner says
That’s what Moms sometimes get for trying to do something that the kids will like. And Lily is right in that they pretty much do look like the stickers they play with all the time. I’ve been in that long line before. This year I bought my stamps in October… and I think they were last year’s design. But I didn’t care. I’ve since discovered that you can order stamps (including Christmas ones) online. That’ my plan for next year!
Ginny Marie says
Oh, poor Lily! I’ve had the same sort of miscommunications with my daughters. Their little minds work so differently than ours, and sometimes I just forget that they think differently!
Bill says
None of the products you advertise mean much to me, and I don’t have the money to buy them even if they did, but I love reading about your girls and your family, so thank you for sharing them with us all, and Happy Friday, Janine.
Echo says
HAHAHAHAHA! Rudolph tattoo! Dang us parents! Keeping expensive stickers all to ourselves and not sharing! The post office always takes forever, even if there are 3 people working the counter and only 2 people in line.
Emily says
Frankly, I am just so impressed that you waited on line for 40 minutes to buy stamps!! However, Lily’s reaction and her thinking they were tattoos makes it all worth it!
Jenny.U says
Time for a Rudolph tatoo! lol
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
Oh my goodness… hilarious and horrible all at once. I saw it coming… I never buy the themed stamps because I’m certain my kids would react this way.
Admit it though… you do have a Rudolph stamped on your derriere… LOL.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
xoxo
Lauren says
Oh goodness! The post office is extra terrible this time of year, isn’t it? Looks like you handled everything gracefully, as usual. 🙂
PS Your new blog design looks great! Congrats!
Robin (Masshole Mommy) says
Be cause I suck, I never even sent out cards this year, so I never had to go to the PO to get Christmas stamps.
Dana says
Too funny! Those would be some very expensive tattoos. I was in Costco last week and bought stamps at the register to avoid the post office. I got the unexciting poinsettias, because that’s all they had and my kids no longer care 🙂
lisacng @ expandng.com says
Sounds like a conversation I could be having with my 4 year old — the misunderstanding, the meltdown — *sigh*. At least you could laugh about it! Cute stamps! I always go to the post office too late and end up with boring regular stamps.
Bev says
Aw, poor Lily! And I feel your pain with having to deal with the post office. Yikes! I have had moments with Eve where I can’t help but laugh. Like when she tries to shove a huge piece of food in her mouth and since I don’t want her to choke I’ll pull it out. Despite the fact that she still gets to eat it, she gets super mad and starts wailing whenever this happens. It’s really hard to keep a straight face when they react this way. 😉
Aunt Gloria says
What a cute story. Of course Lily would expect the stamps to be like her stickers! She’s something else….and just being Lily! I loved the Rudolph song too. Put me in the holiday mood! Got the Christmas photo/card….love it! Love you……
Alison says
Hahaha!! That’s hilarious 🙂
Joy @ Yesterfood says
Janine, I laughed til I cried. Your Rudolph stamps stories are just too hilarious. One all by itself would have been priceless (thinking they were stickers to play with), but then there was another one, too (you were keeping them for your own tattoos!!). I hope this becomes a story you and your family tell every Christmas. 🙂
Anonymous says
Aww, the little sweetie pie!! That’s hilarious, Janine, and I want those stamps!
P.S. My husband is a mailman and he hates Christmas, bwuahahahha
Tamara says
haha.. you mean you don’t buy stamps for the free tattoos??
Ok so my childhood dog ate a $20 roll of stamps. My parents were PISSED!
Kim says
Oh, this story made my morning!!! Isn’t it funny how the little minds work??? I hope that Lily somehow ends up with her own Rudolf stamp!!
Now, I better go buy my Christmas stamps so that I don’t have to spend an hour waiting in line!!
Jen says
Kids! I bought the Rudolph stamps too and when I was applying them to the cards I lost sight of Liese, only to discover she had taken one of the books and stuck them all over her body!
Rea says
Ahaha, geez! I would have laughed too.. and probably get sick of explaining! Kids are kids. My toddler cousin once asked me to turn the play money into real money because he wanted to buy an ice pop! I was so shocked and then laughed after.. while he was crying because I told him that’s impossible. LOL. Whoa to 40 minutes of waiting and getting what you need for only 2 minutes. Happens to me all the time!
Brittnei says
Awww! I’m noticing that JR doesn’t understand certain things and falls out crying at certain times as well. I just try to talk him through it and show him. And then I try to move on to something else and I let him cry and be on the floor. Then after a while something else happens and his attention is turned to something else and he stops. Hehe.
Jhanis says
Hahahah! Oh my! Poor Lily! Yes mom, what are you doing keeping all the stickers to yourself?! LOL
Kenya G. Johnson says
That was hilarious! Poor Lily! My mins went SCREEEEECH at $60 worth of stamps. No wonder I stopped sending them. I sent my last card in 2011. My uneven amount of stamps was 80 something so I bought 100!!!
The Pinterested Parent says
Awwww. Poor Lily & poor mommy. I have been through this many times & you can’t help sometimes but laugh at their reactions. $60 worth of stickers, wow. Lol! I guarantee, I would have gone through this exact same thing had Mai seen our stamps. You gotta love our little munchkins.
Alexa says
Somehow I missed this one. That is hilarious!!! Where DID you put that Rudolph tatoo???? LMBO!
Janine says
Lol, I know god only imagines where Lily thought I put it!! 😉
Rabia @TheLiebers says
OMG! So funny! My kids want to play with the stamps too, but I hide them. I do let them have the one big sticker at the end that usually looks like the rest (only larger). I notice yours aren’t like that for the Rudolph ones. That’s just wrong, USPS!!
Janine says
So wrong I know and still god help me for what Lily’s mind went to on this 😉