The Daily Hailey

Today was filled with pep talks for me, from me. They went like this:

You’re not even going away this Christmas, you don’t have to have everything totally organized by any deadline.

Your kids don’t even eat that many sweets, so you don’t have to bake a thousand different things.

Don’t even think about laundry. Christmas isn’t that close.

People at church won’t feel burned if the Christmas picture isn’t in an envelope. Skip that step.

Don’t try to clean off the island yet. You need to keep the things there that you’re going to forget.

You will find childcare for the spans of time that you need them. Don’t panic. Leave that one for tomorrow.

There were a lot more pep talks that were equally as pathetic. I made a serious effort to be organized and ahead of the game this year, and as always happens, I have less than two weeks until Christmas, and here I am, scrambling and behind. It drives me nuts. I don’t feel like my list of things to do is unreasonable or even really large, but our day to do is busy with little people, among other things, and its hard to sit down and accomplish a task. It just is. But I’m trying.

I tried to make good choices today. I wanted to get things done without panicking like a basket case and frightening my kids. So I didn’t rush to get up for the day. I took some time to putz away on my phone and wake up well. Then I surfaced, fed the three big kids, and Solly slept. I washed my two dresses I recently purchased from Value Village, so I’m ready when I need to be fancy, and hung them to dry. I made a latte. I made a feeble attempt to exercise but let me tell you! I am NOT in shape, and wasn’t a fan of it, hahaha! In our bi-level, we have three half-flights of stairs. I ran, jogged, and finally lagged up and down them until I couldn’t anymore, which was about ten runs each way, so I guess twenty? But actually ten, I think. Anyway, I didn’t much care for it. Lol! Either way, I attempted to do something positive for my body today.

My kids weren’t in the best shape they’ve ever been in, but they like to help with tasks, which is nice. So I had some help with dishes and cleaning up the floor after breakfast. I was encouraged more than once, “If you need help, just call us!”

I spent the kids lunch time at the island, addressing a few envelopes to send out Christmas pictures, and writing a few cards that are long overdue. Once I’m done this post, I will do some writing and organizing for tonight’s music practice in anticipation of our Christmas Eve service. After that, I may even put on real clothes and brush my teeth. Maybe the kids would be happier if I blessed them in that way…

All things considered, I feel like my “work day” has been a bit of a flop :/ I did a lot of thinking, and my kids are alive, so those are both wins, hahaha! But otherwise, I have laundry to put away, dishes to put away, floors to clean, gifts to wrap, cookies to bake, winter tires to somehow arrange to be installed, mail to send, and a family to continue to maintain, since thats not exactly a one-time task.

I KNOW that what needs to get done will get done. And in reality, I still have time! I just thought I’d be further ahead than this :/ Maybe one day, years down the road, it’ll be mid-December, and I’ll be bored, because everything will be ready! Something tells me I’m a solid thirty years away from that feeling, hahaha! I can’t complain about that 🙂