Post-Christmas Blah
Those after-Christmas blues you sometimes read about? Well, I have 'em. All that wonderful excitement and joy leading up to the big day, and after the last present was opened and the last sugar cookie frosted, it dawned on me that life is still the same this side of Christmas as it was before Christmas.
You know that in your head, but it takes a while for your heart to catch up.
We had a small Christmas. Well, small by wealthy North American standards. Totally lavish by standards in other countries. My kids were fine. Actually, I don't think they really noticed. But how pathetic that I noticed and seemed to care. I had to give myself LOTS of lectures about not giving in to the pressures of consumerism. It was a wake-up call for me to do a self-check of our needs and wants. It was also a wake-up call for me to remember that our lives will be the same following a big celebration as they were before. Lily will still be sick. So I'm learning to lower my expectations. And that's ok. We had a fantastic day and we're all loving our break together.
To make life even more interesting, Lily bought gerbils for Carver for Christmas. While the pet shop ensured us they were both boys, alas... they are not. One girl. One boy. And the girl just had 6 babies.
Awesome.
5 comments:
ha, ha, ha, ha!!!! Oh, of all people for that to happen to- it had to be you! And NO, I do not want one. Or six.
when it rains, it pours.
I have not been feeling the holidays at all this year. And usually I love them. But not this year. I just wanted to get through them.
The consumerism thing is hard for me. I don't need or really even want anything tangible. But there's still something that deflates me each year at christmastime.
I think it's mostly that I really miss my mom this time of year. She always managed to give the most thoughtful (not necessarily fancy or expensive) gifts. Things that really showed that she knew who I am and what would make me happy. I've had to come to the realization that I'll probably never have that again in my life. (my husband is a wonderful man in many ways, but gift giving is definitely not his forte.)
Anyway, it's not even about the "stuff". Moreso the feeling of connection that's been missing in my life lately.
Ugh. Thanks for letting me use your blog as my personal therapy session. yuck!
Back to you: I love that your celebrations are so family focused. I love that you're so aware of need versus want. And mostly, I just love you.
Gerbil babies is kind of funny. I bet Lily was freakin out.
The gerbil baby story got a big smile out of me:)
You got me with the gerbils too. Two of my college roommates thought it would be a fun idea to get gerbils and hide them in their closet. At one point, due to all the b'ness happening in there, we had 20-some gerbils. Gross.
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