The Hobby Lobby Meltdown

It all started as a good idea. Don’t they always?

I wanted to be intentional about our holiday season this year. Less senseless gifts. Less running around like crazy. More intentional time together. More thoughtful, homemade gifts.

I loved the idea of everyone picking a yearly ornament that represents them/their interest that year, and having them adorning our tree each year. It would be so fun to look back on the memories! So fun to have all of them hung up for the next 10 years! So fun!

So off to Hobby Lobby I went with my four kids in tow. It was a Monday, and we stopped at the library first. After hauling all of our library books out to the van, wrestling the baby back into his carseat and making sure everyone had a snack, we hopped over to Hobby Lobby.

As we entered the store, I began to question my sanity. It was PACKED. Every single person who had been cooped up with their family over Thanksgiving break was now browsing the aisles of Hobby Lobby. The kids and I walked the whole store looking for an ornament aisle. Finally, we found it.

And I gaped in despair. Literally. Despair. First of all- half of the hundreds of people in the store were IN. THAT. AISLE. And secondly- the ornaments were gaudy and large, with only a few different options for various categories. Let me say it in plain English: THEY WERE UGLY. All of them. I hesitated, then told the kids they could each pick an ornament. They looked at me, then proceeded to browse up and down the aisle. Not one kid found an ornament that suited them. Not one single ornament. Finally, they just started picking something that looked like something that they might be interested in. One kid wanted to pick a dog. We don’t have a dog. One kid wanted to pick a suitcase. We rarely travel.

It was then that I realized that my vision of a cute ornament tradition was going down the drain. I was either going to have hideous ornaments on my tree for the next 10 years or I was going to have to shut this all down. In the middle of Hobby Lobby. With four small children. In the most crowded aisle of all time.

I took a deep breath and told the kids that we actually aren’t picking ornaments anymore, never mind. This is a bad idea. Four pairs of eyes looked up at me as if I had betrayed their absolute trust. I hustled them out of that aisle and explained that NONE of the ornaments we were looking at were worth their price or their space on our tree. They all agreed, but my frustration and disappointment level had risen pretty high already. I told them that instead, they could pick a craft or activity from the store.

WHAT WAS I THINKING? It was already past lunchtime, we were already overwhelmed, overstimulated and disappointed/frustrated. The baby was tired of sitting in a cart and we were tired of being there. And I suggested that they pick a craft?!?

Well, off we went to try to find something. My big mistake at this point was not really defining the “something”. My kids were overwhelmed (or maybe underwhelmed?) and didn’t quite know what to pick or what not to pick. Then of course every time they almost picked something, their sibling would call attention to something else and that item would now be the hot commodity. I tried to convince them to not all get the same thing, but maybe to get something different.

What felt like an hour (although probably only 20 minutes) later, we still hadn’t picked and I was starting to lose it. Each kid was in a different aisle, the baby was fussing and had figured out how to get out of his seat belt latch. And we still couldn’t decide.

And that is when I lost it. I raised my voice to higher than normal volume and declared loud and clear, through gritted teeth: “That is IT. We are leaving. I have had enough. I HATE HOBBY LOBBY. WE ARE NEVER COMING TO THIS STORE AGAIN.”

(Side note: I am not a yelling Mom, but I am a ranting Mom. The words just start coming and then they keep on going and going.)

My children blinked at me as I took a couple deep breaths. “Im sorry” I mumbled. I knew that people around me were staring. I knew that I had messed up. I knew that it wasn’t right or ok. But I also knew that I needed to be done with the store and get out of there- immediately. I told the kids to pick quickly, please, and we made our way to the checkout. We purchased our items and headed forlornly out to the van. I had blown it.

As everyone quietly buckled their seatbelts (and I had wrestled the baby into his carseat), I took a deep breath and apologized to my children. “I’m sorry for yelling and losing my cool. I’m sorry for ruining the trip to Hobby Lobby. I’m sorry for not having self-control and being a good example of what to do when frustrated.” They all nodded and gently forgave me, and truly they did- forgive me.

Now, I feel like I should have a good and meaningful conclusion here. I feel like it should teach a big life lesson and that I should share this story with everyone so that they, too, can learn the big life lesson.

But there is no big life lesson here. The whole point of sharing this is that I want you to know that if you have had a meltdown…me, too. This isn’t to say that we can use that as an excuse. This is just me trying to humorously share that I’ve been there, too. Maybe it gives you a little bit of encouragement in this day and age when you are only seeing the good and the highlights on social media. Maybe it gives you some encouragement to apologize to your kids when you have made a mistake, and to bask in their quick forgiveness.

Basically, I just want this to be an encouragement to you.