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Sunday, April 19, 2009

"Happy" Sunday

When I was growing up, we used to have a phrase in our house that was reserved for one particular day of the week. It was "Happy Sunday" and we used it to mean exactly the opposite of what it sounds like.

Sundays in our house were generally crabby. Parents dreading the start of the work week and barking out orders to pick up the house; kids putting off due-on-Monday homework and bickering and fighthing as a result of not enough sleep. By about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, at least one or two of us kids would roll our eyes and declare "Happy Sunday!" in our most cynical voices.

And now I am a grown up and it's Sunday in our house. I'm the one barking out the orders and wishing that homework/dishes/laundry/bills had been attended to earlier in the weekend. And my children are the ones saying, "Please! We're not going to clean again!" (You know because they just cleaned their rooms seven days ago.)

Truthfully, today I would love to play "Mommy's legs are broken and she can't get off the couch." If for no other reason than I could say that we honor the 4th commandment, "Keep holy the day of the Lord."

But there will be no clean dishes for dinner tonight and no clean underwear for school/work tomorrow. Of course, the latter wouldn't bother Robbie and Charlie; they prefer going commando anyway. (Why is that? If there are any men/boys reading this, can you please explain the appeal of going commando?)

And so, I carry on the tradition started when I was a little girl. And hopefully by dinner time tonight, the tasks will be done and we can all settle into the family room for a little "America's Funniest Home Videos." Then might actually feel like a happy Sunday.

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Of course, it's only after I'd taken 15 minutes to write this that I realized the irony in me going on about how much there is to do, yet I'm sitting in this chair, doing something that clearly could wait!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, how I remember "Happy Sundays", but not in a good way. Tell the kids not to complain until you start making them wash and dry all the dishes by HAND!

That was the worst, when a perfectly good dishwasher was sitting right there!

~ April ~ EnchantedDandelions said...

LOL, I have similar memories of Sundays as well. And we used to watch America's Funniest Videos as well. And Rescue 911. Well, that is, if we had all our homework done, which most of the time we didn't. >.<

~ April ~ EnchantedDandelions said...

As well. As well. As well. Blah, I'm tired. Maybe next time, I'll proofread. *wink*

Joanie said...

Go ahead and shoot me. I tagged you with a meme on my blog.

Deby said...

I have a hard time with Sundays as an adult. My work environment is not the most pleasant place to be and then add Monday on top of it...

As a kid, what I do remember is driving my mom nuts by calling her "mom, mom, mom" over and over until she finally answered (times this by three because there was myself and my two sisters). She got so annoyed one time she told us "Just call me mother once!". So, after that, it was "mother once, mother once, mother once".

Be careful what you ask for, huh?

Amy said...

@Deby -- Mother once! LOL! You kids were mean -- clever, but mean!