Slow Motherhood Challenge: Slow Motherhood Challenge: A Moment Between Holidays

This post is part of my Slow Motherhood Challenge Series.

Oh wow. I can’t believe it is over. Thanksgiving is such a whirlwind. With travel and cooking, and friends and family it can all happen in such a blur. Then just as suddenly it is over.

We wake up the day after Thanksgiving with an expectation to shop. To immediately start knocking gifts off our holiday lists. Fighting crowds and making sure we get the best deals. It is all so exhausting.

Tonight, we went to a little get together. The kids all ran around inside, enjoying each other’s company, getting as much energy out as possible in such cold and rainy weather, and staying up way too late. We feasted on leftovers on a not-quite-cleared from yesterday table with old friends, family, and neighbors.

Christmas is here before Thanksgiving even ends

On our way home, my little one noticed all of the Christmas lights. He shouted “look mama! It’s Christmas!” over and over again. He thinks Christmas is less a time of year, and more decoration of a place. Then we started talking about how maybe it could be Christmas at our house. He requested “crystals from the whistals (?)” and “Santa on a big, huge snow platform.” Clearly, he has a different idea than I do about minimal decorations, but that is another story. It isn’t Christmas at our house quite yet.

And, I am going to wait a few weeks before it is.

We tend to rush from Thanksgiving chaos straight into Christmas chaos, without even a moment to come up for air. We leave my family’s home in Northern California tomorrow and by Friday, we have a holiday party. And the holiday craziness begins.

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A Moment Between Holidays

So, this year, I am trying to take a moment between holidays. Take a breath before Christmas. Let everything settle before we begin to pick everything back up again. Soak up the regular day-to-day loveliness with my kids. Settle back into our routine. Do something boring and regular before we get up and running filling our days with holiday gatherings and the expectations that come with them.

We will try to enjoy the moment (week, days, whatever is available). Take the time to wind down, for myself, for my kids. And enjoy the uneventful moments that fill up our lives.

Before we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the next set of holidays, we will try to allow ourselves a bit of peace between holidays.

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Have I mentioned that this blog is as much a self pep talk as anything else? Right this minute, I am trying so desperately hard to give myself a break and some downtime before we get geared up for the next holiday. I am fighting the urge right this minute to talk to my husband about scheduling a day to pick up a tree. Yesterday, I had to remind myself to stop looking up Black Friday sales on Amazon. I had to stop myself from reading all of the promotional emails, and I am resisting the urge to encourage the talk of decorating our own home for Christmas, just for a few days.

I am trying to slow down, enjoy the leftovers and calm that comes post-holiday before we need to gear up for the next one. I am challenging myself to take a moment between holidays, even if it is for just a few days.

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