away WENT the mangerS.

what do you do when your kid breaks all of the mangers at the ward christmas party?

white porcelain and a wooden one from germany to be exact.

and i was standing 2 feet from him.

actually watching him.

imagine the slow motion "nooooooooooooooooooo" in the movies.

i curse you paper table cloths.

i curse you that your sound was intriguing to my pork loin's ears and eyes.

the 21 mo. old ears and eyes that had no idea the mangers on top of the paper table cloths would also be dragged off with the paper in his ripping pleasure.

first, i did what any responsible adult would do.

i looked around to see what other kid could have done it.

place the blame on someone else.

no other kids in sight.

dang it.

then i just stood there with my hands up to my face, staring at the fragments of ceramic wise men and camels on the ground, and my back turned to a gym full of 200 people that had instantly become silent.

the scout master confessed later that the reason it took him so long to come over to share the shame was b/c

A. he was hoping it wasn't really his kid that did it

(yeah, sooooo me too),

and

B. b/c he didn't want everyone to see that it was his kid that did it

(all this as i stood there by myself with a toddler staring up at me like, "mom, why did you just do that?")

don't worry, he eventually came over to share the shame.

i don't blame him.

i think i would have stayed away too.

i tried to blink myself away from the scene several times.

i stood there frozen as other ward members came to help pick up the pieces.

pretty sure my face was a brighter red than santa's suit.

would have made a ute fan proud.

after about 5 minutes i mustered the courage to make my way into the kitchen where the said owner of the porcelain manger was cleaning up.

at which point i completely held it together for about 20 seconds, and then totally broke down crying from utter embarrassment.

lovely woman to forgive me.

anyone know where i can find a good ceramic manger scene?

maybe quilted bear...

the wooden one was from germany.

bro. duggar lovingly said it wasn't a big deal.

i literally feel nauseated right now.

so that's it,

we're moving.

i can't show my face in the neighborhood ever again.

after we replace the mangers, of course.

...

winner of the

most supportive quote

of our incident goes to bree's husband:

"no biggie, they were only handcrafted figures handed down for four generations. they made it all the way in covered wagons to utah in 1850."

-matt strong, sent by text message

really, it did make us laugh and took some of the edge off, which is why it is the winner.

thank goodness for friends that know how to make you laugh.

if you can't laugh, what else is left?

nothing i say, nothing.