22 December 07 - 17:29
Final Approach
I feel like I should be writing an uplifting inspirational message about surviving the season, but all my training, my supposed emotional maturity, and my experience at balancing family and the demands of a church don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to the crunch of the week before Christmas. I did a quick count, and I'm doing five services in eight days starting last Sunday. I love worship, but try to twine that around Christmas shopping for three kids and a large extended family, and there is no way to do it calmly! 
Here's my calendar since the last time I blogged:
Friday: Friends coming from England. Pick them up at the airport just before supper. No, wait, their flight's been cancelled. No, wait, not going anywhere, because just about that time I fall victim to a GI bug that puts me in bed for fourteen hours straight. Hubby picks up friends and they get in to our house at 1:45 am, probably having had a worse day than me.
Saturday: All of us, kids and all, are attending an event of our historical society. My friends' luggage didn't come with them, and since everyone must dress in costume for the event, I scramble around and find costumes for seven assorted sizes from my collection. Then I send everyone else on while I write my sermon, which didn't get done the day before while I was flat on my back. Luggage arrives about 2 pm. My friends from England were the hit of the event, and we sang ancient carols and other songs to great cheers from the assembled people. The evening ended with calls to start a singing and instrumental group here in Halifax, something that hasn't been done for a few years. (Oh no, not another thing to do!)
Sunday: Probably shouldn't have done so much singing the night before, because I woke up with laryngitis. Got through my sermon somehow, and just enough volume to be heard (good thing we've got that new amplifier). Fortunately, the carolling scheduled for later that afternoon was cancelled on account of the impending storm. Unfortunately, we had promised to take my friends to dinner, and we gave them the authentic Maritime experience when we treated them to seafood fine dining, followed by pushing the van out of a snowbank to be able to get back to our place. A vacation they will never forget!
Monday: School cancelled due to storm (go figure!) Kids entertained our houseguests, and didn't get out of their pyjamas all day. Put our friends on a midnight flight. Elizabeth and Dan, if you're reading this, we really enjoyed your visit, not to mention your patience with our chaotic household, and hope you come again real soon.
Terrible Tuesday: Woke up and realized that not only do I have four more services to prepare for the rest of the year, but the previous weekend involved no Christmas shopping. Started the day with a root canal, and a mountain of ibuprofen. When I go to pick up my son from school, he reminds me that I was supposed to have been at his class Christmas play, which I had forgotten to put on the family calendar. Stay up till midnight with my nine-year-old daughter, who has her major island project due the Wednesday before Christmas. (Sadistic teachers...) On the plus side, I finish my gift for my mother. Good to have something to pull out of the fire.
Wednesday: Drive the kids to school, because I can't get the image out of my head of the nine-year-old slipping on the ice and dropping the island project and smashing it into a bazillion pieces before it can even be graded. Project made it okay, thank God! While I'm out, I do some banking and stop at Starbucks for a Caramel Macchiato, an unheard of indulgence on a work morning. Somewhere right about there, my zen balance catches up with me. I can't describe it properly, kind of like God reached out and reminded me that I was a good Mom, that I was a good minister, that things would get done or not, and it would be all right. Got two more services in the can, got out Christmas shopping that night, started to believe I might be able to do this.
Thursday: The weather catches up to me again, and I don't get out of the office for my regular visiting. Will catch up later. Go to Dairy Queen for lunch, and somehow zen balance manages to survive dropping my Pepsi on the way back to the office. Use the time to finish the last of the services for the year. (Yea!) Get out to a choir party that just couldn't be beat, there's never a down side of letting other people feed me.
Friday: The kids are home from school today, so I do most of my work over the phone and the Internet. My office is now full of bulletins in neatly labelled piles (my secretary is the best!), and the lighting system for Christmas Eve. Leave the kids with the hubby and go across to Dartmouth, which has the only Toys R Us in all of Halifax Regional Municipality. Also discover, oh joy, that Zellars is open 24 hours this week! I am home by midnight, honest, with the job nearly done. Sometime around then, I realize that I hadn't yet done my weekly blog, and Friday was finished.
Saturday: Sleep in (though I did wake once to realize that my five-year-old had crawled in beside me for a little cuddle). Get up and do blog. Am about to head out and finish the Christmas shopping, wish me luck! Sense of zen balance is still with me, we'll see how well it survives the final push on Christmas Eve.
I hope all of you are finding your zen balance in your final approach to Christmas.
Blessings, Heather.
No comments
No trackbacks:
