January and February have kicked my heinie. I'm whooped and when I look around me and see cheerful, functioning adults, I just shake my head in wonder. What is the secret? How does everyone seem to balance the slog that is the first two months of the year with life that demands to be lived? I'd rather crawl into a hole and sleep. Seriously, last week I was sure I had leukemia. Nothing else could explain complete lack of energy I had been feeling. Then I remembered that I always think I have leukemia in January.
The girls must be feeling some of the same. I've had to dress a limp and lethargic Julia several times in the past weeks because she was too tired to get out of bed and do it herself. Without an intervention, she'd have slept till 10. As it is, we have just barely been making it to school on time. Mimi, ever the energetic morning person, still pops up bright and early but has become positively surly come mid-day. In an effort to "streamline my morning" (read: sneak in an extra five minutes sleep), I've stopped wearing make-up to work. Kind of scary what with the black bags under my eyes and all but everyone is just going to have to deal cause I don't foresee pulling out my mascara till April. Or maybe even May.
Then there are the holidays. Christmas, the paragon of winter, was packed away at the end of December and I remember thinking, "phew, now I can take a break!" But then the momentum that was keeping the school year humming along had been broken and required a Herculean effort to restart. Wiped from school, Chinese New Year started creeping up on us. Next thing I knew I was shopping for red envelopes, new outfits for the girls and planning lessons to share with students at school. Wanting the holiday to be extra special, I took on the task of creating a papier mache dragon head. Yep. Papier mache. No puny little dragon either. This dude began life as a largish exercise ball. I was forced to race home at lunch time to make sure he was properly situated in front of the gas fire in order to dry in time. It took like three days. Plus, having actually been to China, I was in hot demand at school as the resident expert for all the classes planning a party for the occasion. Normally delighted to be a know-it all, the 100th time I washed a calligraphy brush soaked in black ink proved to more than I could take.
The minute CNY was behind us, Valentine's day reared it's demanding little head. The pressure. Up making pipe cleaner bumble bees to affix to heart cut outs (Bee mine:))till the wee hours (anything past 9:00 pm) felt like running the last leg of a marathon. Mark kind of summed it all up after the cards were ready to go by saying, "We're not doing anything for each other, are we?" (read: dear God, don't make me do another thing for this holiday) and I replied with the relief known only to the truly desperate, "Heck no!"
So here is what I need to learn from you, dear readers. How on earth do you balance it all? We truly want to make CNY special and probably overdo to compensate for the fact that we don't have a firm grasp on how to celebrate in an authentic way. How can we, having not been raised to it? And Valentine's Day, what is it about if not showing your friends and loved ones (sans spouse) how much you love them? To me, this requires hand-made valentines. I love the crafty stuff and relish the opportunity to make cool dragon heads and fuzzy bees...without them the holidays seem like just going through the motions. But how to do it all and keep one's head above water? Please, friends, kindly advise. How do you all do it so effortlessly? I see you out there with your act all together, don't deny it. It's time to pass on the secret.
And hurry. St. Patrick's Day fast approaches.
**UPDATE** So, in the shower I continued to ponder the dilemma. Yes, yes, I could have skipped the whole dragon thing and bought the skanky Bratz Valentine's cards. But, dang, that dragon is cute. I love him almost as much as I do my children. Well, maybe not that much but at least as much as I love my pets. And the cards, I just don't know. I don't think I could give up making them by hand. It's not in me. What will my kids remember about holidays from their youth when they grow up? I hope it is that they giddily stripped to their underpants to help Mama with a big flour/water/paper mess and that they got to help make something special for their friends. i just don't know. It's a stumper, this one. Blame it on the weather.
2 comments:
First and foremost start taking a multivitamin! We all need our daily dose of vitamin D but living here in Seattle we don’t see the sun so much and thus we all have lower levels of this important vitamin in our systems. Hopefully it will help your moods and sleeping. Andy had to go on a high dose of it for a while because she was dangerously low in vitamin D.
Holidays are what we make them. Pick a few that you want to be bigger and spend the time celebrating them. You are allowed to make each holiday your own, create new traditions for your family to enjoy. Some years you might not be able to put so much effort in a holiday and that is ok too. Never make yourself feel bad about not being able to celebrate a holiday a certain way. As I get older and watch my children grow I have learned a great lesson: holidays should never be stressful. Which is exactly how they were when I was growing up, there was too much emphasis on making the holiday celebration perfect. Nothing is ever perfect no matter how much you try and be Martha Stewart and that is quite alright. No one is going to die if they don’t have a papier-mâché’ dragon or there are store bought valentine’s one year.
And remember...Martha Stewart has a staff! :)
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