Did You Actually Survive the Past Two Weeks?
Please share your stories.
Happy New Year, everyone! I am trying my best to get back into the swing of things, as they say, but also wondering if the things I was in the swing of in 2023 are things I want to keep swinging in 2024, which complicates matters considerably.
By which I mean: I’ve been contemplating what I want out of this year, and I’m still not quite sure.
But, alas, this is not the place for me to figure that all out. This week, right now, I want to give you the chance to share your stories and experiences from the past few weeks. The holidays can be so hard, and they can be so joyous. Sometimes they are both at the same time, like when your kid wakes you up at 4:30am on Christmas Day and you want to scream at them while hugging them.
What went down in your family that you feel like sharing here? What did you / your partner / your kids / your extended family / your pets / your toilets (I do not know why I threw that in there, but toilets are important!) do that you would like to brag or vent about?
I’ll be sharing my holiday shenanigans in tomorrow’s paid newsletter, so stay tuned for that. In short, we had a lovely holiday overall, but there were some unexpected guests, including viruses (yup, THAT ONE) as well as trees that came out of nowhere and viciously attacked my car’s side mirror.
Honestly, today, feel free to share …. anything. About anything. This thread is a safe space for whatever you need right now.
I used to be one of those “don’t take off the week between holidays because it’s so quiet and you can get so much done” people, but in the last two years I have changed it up. Now instead, I take off every Friday in December. It gives me at least three (sometimes four) whole days of prep time where the kids are in school and I have the house to myself, and it makes such a huge difference in being able to slow down and enjoy those December weekends with my family vs feeling frantic about squeezing it all in.
We were all sick for over a week in the lead up to Christmas, which really cut into preparation time--and depleted my PTO (which was barely there anyway due to all the other viruses we have had this year). So I couldn’t take any days off over the holiday after all, other than Christmas and New Years when the office I work in was closed. I took those unpaid so I could have today off for our daughter’s 4th birthday. This year she was old enough to really get the magic of Christmas and it really gets me in the Christmas spirit to experience it with her! But after today I wish I could sleep for a week. We celebrate my husband’s birthday, my birthday, Christmas, New Year’s and our daughters birthday all between Dec 13-Jan 4. I feel so blessed that we are fortunate enough to have these kind of problems be the biggest we are dealing with, but I’m so tired and stressed. I am starved for downtime. Can anyone relate?