all will be well

I don't know about you, but I've really enjoyed December so far. I've done quite a bit of knitting, we had a great weekend of Christmas activities in Bristol, I actually made (really, really good) gingerbread cookies, I sent out Christmas cards, I've had a lot of hot chocolate (with marshmallows!), we've been to church every week, saw a bunch of Christmas lights, we had our first family Christmas celebration last night, and we've spent a lot of good time together as a family of four. All that equals out to a really great month of RELAXing, with even more fun and excitement to come later in the week. 

But lest you think that my life is pretty dang perfect, what with all the time for knitting and traveling and writing cards and making cookies, let me take a minute to assure you that things are not all rosy all the time around here. I think that this time of year can be especially difficult with all the things we think we should be doing and all the pretty pictures posted by friends and family (including me!) and all the pinterest projects that everyone's making that work out for them but when you try to make it it completely falls flat. Being surrounded by all that 'perfection' can make us start to doubt ourselves and think we're terrible people because things sometimes really suck and the kids don't get along and there's yelling and there's ungratefulness and there's sadness and there's...well, you get the point. It can be really stressful. And even though I'm trying my best to RELAX this month and doing a pretty good job of it, there's still stuff to do and there's still things that go wrong. So let me share with you some of the not pretty stuff that's gone on this month, in case you need a little reassurance that you're not the only one. 

-kid squabbles
-forgetting to move that dang elf
-the Christmas trees falling off the top of the car
-that tiny crack in my windshield spreading right up into my line of sight so the entire thing is going to have to be replaced
-running a million errands
-three-year-old 'I don't want to go to bed' tantrums
-returning gifts that I bought in the wrong size
-setting the cinnamon sugar toast on FIRE (not kidding)
-Tommy having to run to the end of the driveway to catch the bus because we had a crazy morning
-blowing off the evening hot chocolate in favor of getting just a few more minutes of sleep
-waking up crazy early with Annabel
-finishing a big 2nd grade project that we had 3 weeks to work on the night before it's due
-getting shingles (again, not kidding, and believe me, it's very, very unpleasant)
-stressing over the right gifts
-screwing up the cast on THREE times for a scarf that I made my grandmother
-almost giving away a big Christmas surprise for the kids
-finishing teacher gifts at midnight the night before the last day of school before winter break

Feel better?


I feel better just admitting to all of that.

Fudge-making at 10:30pm last Thursday night.

So if you're feeling a little stressed right now, or even if you're not, make yourself a festive mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows (or pour yourself a big glass of wine, or mix yourself a good gin and tonic with extra lime...I don't discriminate), light a sweet-smelling candle, and take a few minutes to breathe deep and RELAX. All will be well. Even if you don't get the cards out until New Years, or maybe not even at all. Even if you don't finish the teacher gifts until midnight the night before. Even if you set the dang cinnamon sugar toast on FIRE. All will be well. 

Wishing you comfort and joy this week, my friends. See you Wednesday.