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Parents often feel guilty about the things that didn't go quite as planned during the holiday season. But one mom thinks parents everywhere deserve a toast - of cold coffee, of course.
Raise it to "every piece of torn wrapping paper" and "all the moments we’ve resisted repositioning the Christmas tree ornaments placed by little hands," wrote Heather Delaney on Facebook in a post that's been shared thousands of times. Don't forget, she reminds parents, "all of the months spent thinking about, searching for, and finally finding the most perfect gifts."
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But more than anything the Newfoundland, Canada, mom says, "Let's raise those cold coffee mugs because we’ll never get this Christmas again. That’s right. This one right here; right now. For next year, our little hearts will be another year older, another year wiser."
Today, Delaney's three children range from 12 to 18.
"I wrote this four years ago, in 2017," she told Fox News. "I wrote it because I found, as a mother, I was so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that I was forgetting to really sit and appreciate the good things - that being my children, their joy during the holidays, and the memories that we were making."
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"As mothers, we are so quick to look around during Christmas and see nothing more than mess, chaos and crumpled-up paper when what we are really looking at is our babies' childhoods and the moments we'll ache for years from now."
The feedback on the post, she said, comes from two groups of parents: those still in the chaos and those who have passed that season of life.
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"Those who are still in the chaos appreciated the reminder to stop and breathe; those who are out of that season of life basically nodded all their heads while screaming, 'Yes. Yes. Yes,'" she told Fox News. "The thing I've come to learn is that you don't often realize that the little things in motherhood truly are the big things until the little things are over."
Heather Delaney is encouraging parents to ‘sit and appreciate the good things of the often hectic holiday season. (Courtesy of Heather Delaney)
And while her family's Christmases are no longer full of trucks and dolls under the tree, Delaney said the holidays are still filled with joy.
"Things change as your children grow up, but the magic of Christmas and the reason we celebrate? No matter how old our children are, those things don't change, and there's something pretty incredible about that," she said.
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