This is a story...

...about a mom who was at her wit's end.

It was her own fault, really.  She got caught up in being lazy.  Sure, she was working out 3-4 times a week, she was making sure the kids got to school clean and fed, organizing parties and being charitable towards other families, being crafty to make a few extra bucks so that she could hopefully surprise the hubby with something this Yuletide.  But, she let other things go.  Like the kitchen.  Oh, it's not like she let it become unhealthy.  It's just hard to look at, or find counterspace.  Or the bathroom.  The mats are clean, they just haven't made it out of the laundry room to replace the 3rd set of towels that are on the floor to do the mats' job.  Or her 3 year old, who seems to think that, just because she ignored the fact that he was jumping off the couch onto the coffee table and back ONE TIME, he can do it all the time now.  Which knocks over the clean laundry this mom has had every intention of folding for a week... or two, now.  And, lastly, the play room.  This mom has asked, begged, yelled at, and pleaded with her children to clean it up.  "There are so many children who would love to have just half of the fun things you have down here!"  All to no avail.  Maybe because those kids can see that she doesn't take care of her stuff very well, either.

And so.  When her 6 year old had a half day at school, the mom decided that she'd had enough.  She would give each of her 3 children a box.  In that box they would put whatever toys they wanted to keep.  The rest would be donated to those aforementioned children that would love half of her childrens' fun things.  The mom, as well, would fill a box, or three, with things that were never used, constantly moved and never put back where they belong, and find a new home for them.  To remind her family that there really is so much they have to be thankful for.  To try and instill a sense of pride in the material possessions they all take for granted every day.

And maybe, just maybe, it would be the attitude adjustment her family needed.

...but we won't find that out for a few more days yet.