A Fresh Start

In the last month or so, everything spun wildly out of control.  Crazy-fast, extremely crammed, not a moment to think of anything except completing the next task.  The kids, on the other hand, had a great time!

I'm not exactly sure how that happens.  We homeschool, so I set our schedule.  We keep our "out of home" activities pretty limited - two evening activities a week, and church activities on Sundays.

All the extra Christmas shopping, baking, present coordinating, buying, wrapping and hiding might have done it.  We only baked one batch of cookies.  I sent only a few Christmas cards.  We went to only one Christmas party...but it all adds up. 

Every time I sat down with the thought of writing a blog, there was something else that would come up.

Things like Shop Girl's hair being caught on the water spout of the tub during bath time.

 Shrieks of "Cut it off!  Cut it off!" could be heard throughout the house.  

(I did not have to cut it off.  Thank goodness.)

Perhaps it was caused by my mischievous puppy who, in between naps, terrorizes the house.  He's still not house trained, so we find lovely messes, usually on the kitchen floor (hey - at least it's not the carpet!).

Or we spend 20 minutes at a time outside in the freezing cold, coaxing him to "go potty,"  only to have him wait to drop a load once we've returned to the warm house.  How cozy.

Maybe it was the time was spent cleaning up wood chips, plastic bits, and vacuuming buckets of dog fur off the carpet.

I'm surprised our pup isn't bald by now. 

Oh look - there he is now...sneaking freshly baked cookies off the table.

The day after Thanksgiving was spent rearranging the entire house.  This is not an annual tradition.  It was something my husband brainstormed while eating his turkey and mashed potatoes.  It was a lot like moving - packing things up in boxes, rearranging the furniture - thankfully on indoors during the cold, rainy weather.  And my in-laws were available and willing to help with the gigantic house reset (thank you! thank you! thank you!).  As soon as we finished that, there was the Christmas tree to put up in the living room and the lights to hang.

The next day was filled with Christmas Pageant costume-making efforts.

We made shepherd and angel costumes, then hemmed old kids' choir robes to be used in the scene.
Next came the manger for baby Jesus.  I re-purposed a piece of kids' furniture headed for the dumpster - I just covered it with some brown fabric, and I think it turned out great! 

 
By the time the kids' regular activities were done for the month, taking a break for the holidays, I was spent.  But we needed one more "push" to reach the finish line.

The last week before Christmas we somehow "got it all done."

My hubby and I, of course.  Team effort.  The more I was out of the house working or shopping, the more loads of laundry he would do to keep us all in clean clothes.  He'd take over bedtime duty if  I was working on something else, though I try not to miss that special time with my family.  Christmas sometimes calls for desperate measures.

Yay, hubby!  

When I was upstairs wrapping presents, he was downstairs putting in a load of dishes or occupying our energetic puppy.  He actually did most of the Christmas present shopping, which was awesome, too.

We fit in a weekend getaway to Seneca Falls, New York, if you can believe that.  Home of the "It's a Wonderful Life" celebration and the birthplace of the women's rights movement (your little bit of trivia for today!)  Hubby had it all planned months ago.  Somehow, it worked out just right.  We needed a short break to make it through the rest of the month.  Thankful for family who took care of our energetic kids and crazy puppy in our absence.

This was my favorite hotel sign.  It was most definitely an "area of refuge" for us.

Despite my panicking, stressing, and worrying over all the details, everything turned out just fine.
It always does. 

The best part of the holiday season was when we left everything behind.  We left our work, our home, our church even (gasp) for a whole week!  We spent time with my family opening presents, sharing old memories, and making new ones.  It's nice to leave all the work and worries behind for a few days.  Best
sleep I've had in months.

We went swimming as a family the day after Christmas!  

Here Art Girl and Hulk Boy are floating by in the lazy river.

I've returned with a fresh outlook on everything we do in this busy life of ours. 

Back to work.  Back to school.  Back to church.

I'm ready to make new plans, try new things, and keep going.

People like to pick a theme verse for the year.  Or a word that motivates them to do better. 

I think I'll pick one, too.

" Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord..."

Colossians 3:23

 

Here are our cheerful little elves after working hard making Christmas cookies (oh yeah - flour was everywhere!)