Christmas and New Year’s Day on Wednesdays is really throwing me off. Having the holidays in the middle of the week with work surrounding on each side has made the season feel a lot different.
At work, we had been preparing for this time for a while. With people out of the office, we knew we would be short-handed along with early deadlines because of holiday print times. But just because preparations were made, doesn’t mean they always work out.
To get the work done, I have been spending many late nights in the office. While I am able to get the work done quickly and efficiently without any interruptions, I would still rather be at home with my family at night. Also, once night meetings and kiddo obligations start back up, it will make it a lot more difficult to carve out the time outside of my regular work day.
Besides work adjustments, having Christmas smack dab in the middle of the week made it harder to prepare like normal. The ginger bread houses are still sitting in their boxes waiting to be made and we didn’t have our traditional cookie baking day, but instead wrapped it in with a family Christmas celebration. It worked out really well, but I still missed making cookies at our house, too.
Due to the luck of the deadlines, I was able to spend Christmas Eve at home with my kids and we went to church and opened matching pajamas to prepare for the big day. Christmas morning I was tired since the girls decided to get up a lot earlier than normal, but it was fun to see the excitement on their faces as they opened their presents and discovered what Santa had left the night before.
That afternoon we headed to my in-laws to celebrate the holiday. The girls had fun playing with their cousins, even heading down to the park to play because it was so nice out.
I had a good time, too, but there was always the looming thought of work the next day, the same feeling I get at the end of a vacation, the anticipation of wrapping up the time away.
I saw many memes saying “this is the most Mondayest Thursday ever” and I can’t say I didn’t agree. Plopping a holiday in the middle of the week just messes with the schedule, not matter how you look at it, especially for a planner like me.
Over the weekend we really vegged out, watching football from Friday evening (Go Hawks!) to Sunday night. We also celebrated my husbands birthday with lunch and a movie. I don’t know if the weekend break was good or bad, but the timing felt off on the internal schedule and I was ready to go back to work Monday.
With New Year’s Day also on Wednesday, we have a repeat of the week before both at work and for time at home. This holiday doesn’t come with nearly as many commitments and I think I might try to get us out of the house a little bit more, too. Friday school starts back up, just in time for the weekend.
I can’t say I look forward to Mondays very often but come Jan. 6 I will be thankful to be back on schedule and looking forward to a whole new year of possibilities.