Oh man...it's December! This time of the year never fails to be totally crazy and busy, but I really want to make a concerted effort to not allow the holiday madness to drive me mad! Our calendars are filling up, and with all good things, but I also want to reserve time for good, quality time with my little family. Here is what we have on our calendar so far for this month:
Craft night with Michele
Secret Santa dinner with friends
Christmas cookie baking with my girlfriends
Girls' dinner out
Ornament exchange at church
Ralls Christmas party
Bible study dinner
Dorr family visit after Christmas
In addition to those social events, I have doctor appointments every two weeks now (say what?!), we have small group every Wed night, and John has BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) every Monday night. Goodness gracious! I look at my calendar and feel so blessed to have friends, and fellowship opportunities, but I also feel as though we need to start reserving calendar space for family time. This many not be hard for some people, but for John and I; it's hard! We are by nature extroverts and recharge our batteries by being with others in social settings. And Avery is that way, too! She doesn't do well just sitting at home. She likes to be out and about as well. We have 12 wks (ish) until Lucy arrives, and I want to relish and soak up time with Avery and John before we become a family of 4.
We aren't spending the day with family or friends on Christmas, which in a way makes me sad, but also kind of excited because it will force us to hunker down and enjoy the quiet and simplicity of the day. It doesn't need to be a day of traveling, exchanging countless gifts, and schedules. I'm going to make an early dinner for the 3 of us, and the plan is to just enjoy the day together: open presents, go on a walk, watch movies, and chill. We are going to see Les Mis after Avery goes to bed, which we are both super excited about...we have a countdown, actually :)
How are you choosing to spend the month, and how are you (if at all) protecting your calendar from getting too chaotic during December?
4 comments:
Your month sounds like ours! Book Club every Tuesday night, Home Group every Wednesday night and John's trying to finish his PhD before his advisor goes on Christmas break...
We have a few Christmas parties and have been to Christmas town once with friends and plan to do it again with my parents. It is always so hard to slow things down a bit...
I've been preparing for the chaos of the holiday season too, only my chaos is more in emotion than time! I've already cried several times, whereas before the holiday season set in I couldn't have told you the last time I did. So, rather than my calendar, I've been trying to protect myself. :-) Although, the calendar is crazy too--we're closing on a condo in less than two weeks! It's always a crazy time of year though, regardless of the specific details. My husband and I try to get through/enjoy it by spending as much time together as possible in an fun, uncomplicated way--we have our holiday movies we always watch, make cookies, get a tree, decorate the house, etc. I LOVE to take pictures of the snow and the birds on the bird feeder (we need to put that out, actually!) and wrap gifts. And we try to spend New Years' alone, since we're typically surrounded on Thanksgiving and Christmas. In these times, it's not easy to keep the true spirit of the holiday season at heart, but we try!
But as you mentioned on facebook... if you want a tip for handling the calendar chaos, you could try out saying no to things! :-)
I am booking a "Nothing night" every week in December. I will book nothing on that one night, then when it comes I can spend it any way I choose. If I'm feeling stressed I can rest or spend an evening of reflection......if I feel good I can plan a last minute fun thing that I usually do not have time for!
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