When I started having kids I decided that I wanted all of their names to start with a different letter. That seemed like a good way to mark things. Instead of writing a name I just have to write a letter. I also like letters. I'm kind of boring. A few years ago Walmart had some super cute stockings. They were monogramed. This was my nerd dream. I bought one for all of us. It took a lot of effort because I couldn't find all of the letters. I had to turn a fancy T into an I. My oldest goes by a nickname that starts with an X. I never did find an X so we got him an A for his real name.
Hanging stockings on the mantle is one of my favorite things about Christmas decorating. We hung the stockings in order and stood back to admire them. What did we see? Our children's initials hanging on the fire place were A BIG MES! What? We laughed. We were surprised we never noticed before, but it made sense since my oldest usually had an X.
Time went by and we were expecting another baby. Everyone wanted us to name her an "S" name. I didn't really think we need to advertise that we are a big mess. We also already had an S, so it would go against my rule. It would also give us stress if we were to have another baby. What letter could we use after A BIG MESS? We might have to use a silent exclamation mark at the beginning of the name. Too much of a commitment. In the end I broke my rule, just not with an S. We used another A. Since my first A uses an X, I decided it was okay. That made us A BIG MESA. (We do have a big table.) We immediately gave her a nickname that starts with a Z. This is how we officially became A BIG MESZ.
