A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down...

Tonight, as my husband is away on a business trip, I decided to have movie night with my kids. Choosing a movie for them proves to be very tricky as DD7 doesn't like anything scary, and DS3 likes all things Buzz Lightyear and Barney. And of course, as I was planning on watching with them as well, I had to be mildly interested. So I chose Mary Poppins. 

We finished the popcorn as we got to the famous cleaning-of-the-nursery scene, at which point, DS3 decided he had had enough of this, and went to find something to play.

I remember the first time I showed this movie to my now 21 year old niece. When we finally got to this scene, she couldn't contain her laughter, and as laughter is contagious, we were both rolling. 

Since that day, I think this scene has remained my favorite. Whenever I watch it, the memories of that laughter just come flooding back and I can't help but chuckle.

Of course, since starting up with flylady, I always watch that scene a little differently. Two thoughts usually run through my mind: 1- why can't I just snap my fingers and everything gets put away? and 2- "With every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and SNAP! The job's a game!" That statement is as true in the movie as it is in my life.

Fun comes in different varieties. In Mary Poppins, the fun actually was just snapping your fingers. In my life, snapping could be a variety of things. When I'm working by myself, it could be listening to music, or wearing my special apron. With my kids, its setting the timer and making clean-up into a race!

Somehow, the magic of Mary Poppins has really extended into my home this evening. My kids quickly helped me clean up knowing that movie night was the prize and after the excitement of it had died down a bit, and Mary Poppins was singing to the children to go to sleep, DS3 went to lie down as well
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Thank you Mary Poppins for inspiring and entertaining us for years! (And for putting our kids to sleep!)