This morning I am sitting under a blanket, sipping coffee, in pajamas, at 9:30am-which seems luxurious to the point of lazy, and it very well may be, but I'm in "recovery mode" from the Nutcracker, so I'm giving myself lots of grace.
Whew! Another year of the Nutcracker is behind us! If you've had a classical ballet dancer in your home, you know the intensity of which I speak. Two weeks prior, she had 12 hours of "appearances" to do at a cookies-and-Santa event, in addition to her usual 13ish hours of ballet lessons. The week of, she had 70 hours of Nutcracker rehearsals and performances in 9 days. I worked about 40 hours at the theatre that week. On Sunday we came home, changed into pajamas, ate pizza, and rested. (And while all that was going on, Finn had opening weekend for the community theatre play he's in this year! So in the course of 4 days, my children had 8 performances.) Finn has 4 more performances left and then we are done. I am thankful for the opportunities my children have to develop poise, self-discipline, confidence, and to be a part of these organizations (our local community theatre, in particular, is a nurturing, familial, and fun environment for my teenage boy, who isn't into sports!).
On Monday I worked on laundry, bills, and making sure I had all my ducks in a row for the week, and yesterday I did more laundry (and Annie got braces!). Today will be a day for finishing laundry, deep cleaning, and setting out more Christmas decor. Tomorrow I will get the card table out of the garage and start wrapping gifts! I'm taking my recovery week slowly. :)
Last Christmas I was quite sad, and we didn't do any of the usual Christmas things--only the bare minimum (Nutcracker, gifts, a tree, Christmas day brunch and evening party). This year I've got a list and we're going to enjoy these things:
*baking plenty of types of Christmas cookies
*going into town to see the Christmas tree displays in the village
*going into the Big City to see more trees (sense a theme?)
*the annual "get into pajamas, make cocoa, and drive around looking at Christmas lights" tradition
*Doing crazy "who hair" on each other and then watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (don't ask)
*plenty of hymns played on the piano and sung together--I LOVE Advent and Christmas music! I'd say sacred music and white lights inside my house are my favorite things of all at Christmastime.
*reading through our basket of Christmas books that I keep under the tree
*Watching a few Christmas movies ("It's a Wonderful Life" is my favorite)
*baking fruitcake. I really debated about this because I always made fruitcake for my father, who loved it. Last year I didn't do any Christmas baking except that, driven by uncontrollable urges, I baked fruitcakes--even though Daddy wasn't here to enjoy them. This year after I talked to my stepmom, and she mentioned how much she enjoyed the fruitcakes, I decided to continue the tradition.
And of course, a few days after Christmas we will leave for the annual New Year's trip to Charleston.
Life is full and poignant and beautiful and sometimes hard..... and I am thankful for it.
Happy Advent!
