Life kicked into high gear a couple of months ago and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of my sanity since. After going back to work full-time – in an office with other humans, no less – I’ve had to adjust to a whole new reality.
It was one thing to freelance from home with a couple of elderly cats at my feet, do laundry when I needed a distraction and clean the bathroom when I fully was overcome by procrastination, but it’s an entirely different deal to put together lunches for the kids when I haven’t been grocery shopping in five weeks and show up for work a quarter past 8 a.m. looking presentable. Yoga pants with mustard stains and sloppy Bogs don’t cut it when reception is part of the gig.
So I can relate to the frenzy some parents may be feeling when they look at the calendar and realize that Christmas is only one day away.
When and how did this happen, exactly? Didn’t the kids just start school a few weeks ago?
On one hand, I couldn’t be more relieved. I need a break like the ski runs need more snow. On the other hand, I feel completely and utterly unprepared if I think that the holidays need to match up with those that are portrayed in the media, on billboards and in the malls.
Fortunately, I don’t.
There is truth to the saying that ignorance is bliss. We haven’t had a TV in years and I haven’t had time in the past six weeks to even glance at a flyer. I am feeling the spirit of the holidays purely through my children this year: helping to plan and execute their school Christmas fair, following them around like a chaperon/stalker when they go out caroling in public, cautiously decorating the tree with glitter and popsicle-stick snowflake ornaments the girls made as toddlers.
My go-to present box is shockingly low on supplies, but I’m taking that to mean that this year there will be fewer hard goods beneath the tree and more little cards that will have experiences to savour.
It’s already been decided that one set of grandparents is giving the kids skating lessons for the new year, and we’ve selected some great stage shows for the girls to see in Vancouver including Mary Poppins and The Nutcracker. Roald Dahl’s James And The Giant Peach down at the Carousel Theatre For Young People may make it onto that list as well.
As the kids move their star along their advent calendar day by day, we are reminded that time will be slowing down for us very soon. I am looking forward to having a couple weeks at home to relax, breathe and each individually find our respective centres. We will connect with family, immediate and extended, and that too will fill our cups and prepare us for the next few months of a (hopefully) quiet winter before we see the buds and busy-ness of spring.
Wishing you all a calm, peace-filled and inspiring holiday season – however you celebrate it – and a joyous New Year.
