In case it isn’t glaringly obvious, it is a very busy time of year. Christmas completely on its own is usually busy for most people. There is shopping, baking, decorating, planning, cooking, wrapping gifts, travelling, family gatherings, going to see Santa, multiple church services, elf on a shelf, and MANY other things that occupy time during the season. Some have more, some have less, to each their own.
Then you add life. In our case, general life business includes (going for basics here) Bradys work and running that business, our three kids, maintaining a home and two vehicles, just to name a few. Yes, they are life necessities, I’m certainly not complaining at all, but I don’t think anyone would disagree that it is busy. Add to it the baby who still REFUSES to eat, and its all a little bit overwhelming.
And then we add in the CRAZY. In our case, we’re moving! We will be out of our place and hopefully safely tucked away somewhere new in less than a month. Brady is booked unreasonably solidly until the 24th, so he can fit very little else into a day. We desperately need to rearrange our storage unit, but we lose access to that every evening at 5:00, and there is NO way Brady can make it before then, much less an hour or two before then. So that will have to wait for the new year. With that waiting for the new year, it would be silly to keep filling it with packing boxes, only to have him pull them out and have to fuss with fifty-odd more boxes than are already in there. So likely that will wait until the new year as well. I’m pretty sure our saving grace here is that we have about a week to go from one home to another, but it feels very irresponsible and ill-planned to leave the bulk of the move until that week!!! However, some things just have to roll, and its looking like the move is just going to have to wait. Yikes!
In the day, I’m trying to keep up with everything else. I’m making cookies, or at least the dough. I’m planning music for church. I’m wrapping gifts (when I’m stressed and unable to sleep at 1:00am.) I’m entertaining the kids. I’m trying to make some homemade gifts (that have all failed wildly so far.)
It feels strange having to pick between important things, such as the entire Christmas season, and the move we’ve been anticipating for so long. However, I feel like I’ve struck a bit of a balance. Ok, I’m pretty sure its actually all in my head, but its helping me feel better. I really like to blitz tasks. Start to finish in one sitting makes me feel accomplished. And I just don’t think that is going to be the case this time around. I’ll hopefully finish my Christmas shopping tomorrow with Kim, which feels really late to me, but I’m still really happy to be able to get away and get it done at all! When I get home, I’ll be able to have all of the gifts on hand, and I can finish wrapping the second half in one sitting. I’ll probably bake less than I had anticipated this year, but I did start with the baking that takes a bit more fuss, so I think the easy stuff is last, which is perfect! I think I’ve got a handle on a good amount of Christmas stuff, and what doesn’t get done in time just won’t get done, and I think I’m ok with that. As for the move, I don’t think I can do too terribly much without knowing a bit more about our rental, so I have a few places in the house I can pack up and stack the boxes somewhere, but I’m not too anxious about that. I think a lot of the move will just be transferring daily life stuff (clothing, food, toiletries) over to the new place, and the bulk of the rest will be moving the furniture. I’m sure I’ll be amazed when the day actually comes, but I don’t think there will be TOO terribly much to actually pack. *knocks on wood*
So my balance isn’t so much of a balance but more of an acceptance that its just a different kind of year out here. I’m not sure we’ll ever have a Christmas quite like this one again, but I like to think (and secretly hope) that they’ll all still be crazy in their own way. And I’m pretty sure I’m right. With a family this size and growing, we’re guaranteed some kind of hubbub.