The calm during the Christmas storm
December is a busy month. Between Christmas shopping, wrapping, addressing cards and baking, I feel as though there is never much down time. Each and every year I promise myself that I will start early and not leave anything until the last minute yet each and every year the days slip away from me and before I know it Christmas day is upon us and I’m feeling burnt out.
It’s times like these when I really feel the need to slow down and take a moment. When I’m going a million miles a minute and haven’t ticked off half of the items on my to do list and I feel as though I’m not spending enough quality time with my kids. Everything in me is screaming to just stop! I want to stop doing all these things that have to be done and focus on the things I want to do. I want to sit on the couch in front of the fire and watch Christmas movies, while I eat popcorn and cuddle my kids. I want to spend long, lazy afternoons playing board games and painting pictures. I want to snuggle under blankets and read stories with no idea what time it is. I want to forget my obligations just for a little while.
Sometimes that’s the best prescription for a burnt out mother. Sometimes that’s exactly what we do.
Every holiday, amongst all the festivities and excitement we try and carve out some quiet time just for us. It’s the part of the holidays that I look forward to the most. It’s the calm at the end of our storm.
These are the moments when I know that I have to take my family and lock them away for just a little bit. Nowhere to go, no obligations, no visitors, just the four of us holed up in our home with each other. I have to do it for my sanity. I have to do it for my family. Before I know it these days are going to change, and I want to relish in every little magical moment I have with them.
This year, even more than any other, I am counting down the days until I can shut out the world and selfishly hog my family.
As overwhelmed as I feel in this very moment I know that on Christmas morning when I wake up and see the enchanted, frenzied excitement on their little faces it will all be worth it. I will spot the twinkle in their eyes as they rip open their presents. I will yawn my way through our special Christmas morning breakfast and my heart will burst with the love I feel for them.
It really is the most wonderful time of the year.
