Everyday Magic

I love the holidays. December is always a blur of parties and events, and I love every single minute of it. I was hospitalized in early November, and one of my biggest fears was not being ready for all the holiday events I love so much. I shouldn't have worried. 

I decorated for Christmas two weeks before Thanksgiving to be ready for the festivities. Starting the Friday before Thanksgiving we attended our community's holiday parade that kicks off the season and attended a cocktail party at a friend's house the next day. The day before Thanksgiving I put 225 Christmas cards in the mail. We had Thanksgiving with my in-laws and then flew to Arkansas where we enjoyed an annual weekend with amazing friends. 

A weekend with friends in Hot Springs, Arkansas

The first weekend in December we attended the inaugural Big Red Ball, a celebration of and fundraiser for our neighborhood organization Downtown Lansing, Inc. The following week was our son's 10th birthday and our 16th wedding anniversary (the same day) and we celebrated with a school concert and hotel sleepover.

The inaugural Big Red Ball

The following day we attended my favorite holiday party (which is really any event where I can dance until I can't feel my feet). The next weekend we hosted our annual Christmas party at our house and the next day celebrated with our traditional winter solstice dinner with other spectacular friends.

Pre-winter solstice dinner

We prepped for Christmas and left on Christmas Day for five days with my family in Virginia. We returned home on December 30, had friends over for New Years Eve, and then we crashed. We all had colds, and we were all exhausted. We needed a break. So we took one for the rest of the week until everyone went back to school and work the first full week of January.


Landing at ORF on Christmas Day

Fancy champagne for NYE (where I was definitely in bed by 11)

Just a few days into the new year I find myself struggling as I do every January. My house looks naked without the holiday decorations I love so much. While the December pace isn't sustainable all year, I feel listless without all the events and energy of the holiday season. College football (my favorite sport) is wrapping up. And it's cold. REALLY cold (the extended forecast doesn't have a high above the 20s). I'm strugging to focus on work (which is a shame because there's a LOT to do). I feel very antsy.

Last night we were all sitting together watching the Wizard of Oz (our 10 year old's request), and I snuggled into my little dude and took a breath. I like having a busy life. I truly don't know any other way to operate. But I also need to learn to look for magic in the coldest and darkest days of the year. I'm starting on a giant new work project, and being less busy gives me more time to put my best, most rested self into the work. My son still likes to spend time with me and snuggle me, and I will never, ever take that for granted. 

I miss the holiday bustle, but if I force myself to stop and look around, there's magic in every single day. It doesn't mean I feel less distracted or listless, but I need to take a breath. I don't want to miss it.  

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