Saturday night, after spending the day running from family to family, we pull into our driveway exhausted. My wife looks at me and says simply, “that’s it?” Christmas day for many just flies on by. Wake up early, open gifts. Help the kids put their toys together. Spend the day visiting friends and family. Eat, eat, and eat some more. The kids get loaded with sugar and new things to play with and are bouncing off the walls. Parents and grandparents toil the day in the kitchen preparing a nice Christmas dinner. Then stuffed to the gills, and with kids still wound up, you try and call it a day as you crawl into bed exhausted.
Ever heard the saying, I need a vacation from my vacation? We make ourselves too busy, wear ourselves out, and wonder why the holidays aren’t enjoyable. Where’s Jesus in the mad dash? Where is there time to slow down and actually enjoy the family you’re taking the time to visit? Maybe it’s just me, but every year Christmas gets more and more chaotic and less and less enjoyable.
I need a holiday from my holiday. I feel sorry for you who are working today. I should be, but I couldn’t even get out of bed to get a post up in the morning. We have house cleaning, dishes, laundry, and picking up and finding a place for our children’s new toys. I’m exhausted, still full, and incredibly impatient. If I actually had anything to drink, I’d say I was hungover.
That’s how many get through the holidays actually. In an inebriated haze. The present cultural cliche is that moms slave away in the kitchen while the dads zone out in front of the TV watching the Cowboys and Lakers. Every family has the “drunk uncle”. We toast champagne and drink eggnog (usually not the non-alcoholic version). Even the white elephant gift exchange I have at work involves volumes of alcohol. Of course everyone tries to trade for the “good stuff” while the white elephant cheap liquor is the gag gift. One of my co-workers this year got a 12 pack of Hamm’s. Everyone laughed while jockeying for the Kahlua or Sam Adams. And at the end of the day after putting up with screaming kids, annoying in-laws and tacky gifts (the curse of the holiday sweater!) we finish the day with a nightcap.
And so we start the week hungover while making plans for staying up all night Friday to wake up feeling the same way New Year’s Day.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
The Christmas/New Year’s week is insane. It shouldn’t be.
How are you maintaining your sanity through the holidays?
sanity? too late.