Celebrate Good Times

“We’re gonna have a good time tonight. Let’s celebrate. It’s all right.”

I think Kool and the Gang said it best when they gave people permission to celebrate.

Sounds dumb for people to need permission to have fun, but personally I find this difficult at times.

I work hard. I work hard at being a mom. I work hard at my job. I work hard at living a healthy life in front of others, which helps me in my job.

But at what point do I get to the finish line and feel accomplished? Or is it ALWAYS working hard with no achievement?

I tell you having kids changed all that for me. We celebrate EVERYTHING with kids. Yay! You went potty! Yay! You put your socks and shoes on BY YOURSELF! Yay! You said a FULL sentence consisting of three WHOLE words!

I do these things daily and it doesn’t seem to get a rise out of anyone. As an adult it seems we have forgotten how to celebrate success, big or small.

This hit me over the weekend as we celebrated Halloween with our kids. To be honest this is one holiday I never really “got.” It’s a holiday centered on eating endless amounts of candy that in turn kicks-starts the unhealthy holiday habits that I help people reverse come January. Of course being the wholesome, healthy individual I must model for others, I cannot take part in such shenanigans.

Well this year I decided to dive head first into the awesomeness that is Halloween, for the kids of course, and for the sake of firsts. And you know what? I totally enjoyed it. ALL of it.

I let them eat as many pieces of candy and their cute little ninja turtle hearts desired. Each and every house was “open this” “open that.” And I did. And it was awesome.

Watching their faces light up as they laughed down our friend’s neighborhood streets with their best buddies and eat treat after treat just filled my heart with joy. The warmth and hospitality of their neighbors combined with the wonderfulness that is the Reese's peanut butter cup just gave me a whole new perspective on celebrating life.

The kids rarely eat candy so a whole night of it was fantastic. We all ate and ate until we could eat no more. When the night ended we left with fond memories and tiny belly aches. But it was all worth it.

I did leave the remainder of their conquest that evening at my friend’s house because, let’s face it, I’d devour it all by myself and what kind of example would that be?

It does make me excited for Thanksgiving, though.

A group of us have been training for the 5-MILE Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning for months! You can bet when it’s time to eat, I will be having all of my favorites: Mac and Cheese, Stuffing, Pecan Pie AND Pumpkin Cheesecake. I may even eat the dessert FIRST!

I’m not letting months and months of running end with, “So how about that Marathon?” And I doubt my husband would let me. No. We are all in for each and every holiday coming up. And I believe that’s how life is intended to be.

Celebrated.