Happy Holiday Hangover Day, was created when I had wee children wrapped about my ankles, pulling on my skirt tails, and growing in my womb. It was, without fail, the day daddy went back to work (or school in our case) and everyone just fell apart. Everyone needed concentrated discipline and reminders of how life happened before the holiday had arrived. I remember one day clearly crying while thinking as Mark walked out the door, "Oh! The amazing bliss to go and get to sit in Differential Equations with other adults who spoke in complete sentences and wiped their own butts!" I'm not joking.
Holiday Hangover Day morphed when I started homeschooling. It was the label I used for the way everyone felt as we trudged back into the curriculum and fought to find the "normal" rhythm of school again. Inevitably some one would tell me how much they hated me and school, and everyone would be completely confused about the math concept we had mastered the week before. They would just stare at me when we would review and say things like, "I have no idea what you're talking about. That makes NO SENSE AT ALL!" Hence the reason, as my girls left this morning I said to them, "Hug your teachers BIG this morning. Tell them how thankful you are for them, and PLEASE DON'T BE DIFFICULT! They are too tired to deal with that non-sense!"
And then Happy Holiday Hangover morphed again when the girls started going to school. The hangover shifted from concentrated time together with a lot of discipline to "OUCH! It hurts to watch you leave!" With a side of, "Sweet baby Jesus, goodbye!" :)
I'm not a formula person. There are very few things I do the exact same way everyday. Really, there is only one thing I do the exact same way everyday; the way I make my coffee. Honestly, that's it! Other than that, life is wwwwaaaaayyyyy too short for formulas and boxes. That's why the title of this post is more humorous than anything. There really are not "3 tricks" to combating ANYTHING. Just like there are not 12 steps to a better marriage, 365 devotions to a better Jesus, or 7 workouts to a better butt.
BUT (not a better BUTT) just BUT, I do appreciate ideas, tips, and suggestions for different circumstances. The majority of my marriage and parenting is built on other people's fabulous suggestions and real life advice. We are not an island, none of us are called to do this life alone. Believe or not, we actually do NEED EACH OTHER. And each other's "tricks" to better butting.
Here are my 3 tricks to combat holiday hangover day.
1. EAT WELL! There is nothing more discouraging then an already difficult day paired with poopy eating. Last night, I prepped the girls favorite lunch and put our favorite dinner in the crock pot. More for my sanity then their happiness. But it's all the same. Now I can plow through my 10's and not have to worry about dinner, and it gives them something to look forward to ALL DAY LONG!
2. BE GRACIOUS WITH YOURSELF! For real, keep the expectations looooowwwww. Especially, if you are all alone in a house with little people whining at you and needing you like every 23 seconds. I swear the turkey gave my children short term memory loss this morning, "Mom, I can't find my shoes, my back pack, my clothes, or my glasses! MOM! Where are you?!!!!"
3. I plan NOTHING for the Monday after a holiday weekend. No appointments, no guests, no nothing. Just regroup your brain, your house, and your rhythm.
When 3 o'clock hits I could have some tired, weepy, cranky kids on my hands. Their brains will be fried, their bellies hungry, and their homework plate full. We will take a deep breath and plunge ahead. Not like we used to, now in a totally different hang over way. But nonethemore, a hangover!
God bless the mother's of ankle biters and womb growers!
God bless the working moms who had to ALSO look good at 7:20, when the children left and are not still walking around in their PJ's like some sloths I know! :)
God bless the homeschool moms whose children have forgotten addition!
God bless the SAHMs who are folding their tenth load of laundry, and soaking ten pans!
God bless my children's teachers!
God bless everyone in differential equations!
God bless those is cubicles!
God bless those in crowded doctor's offices!
God bless customer service agents!
God bless grocery store workers!
I mean, GOD BLESS US ALL and our hangover!!
~Sara
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