As a Bee

So it's Monday. My to do list this week is long. Actually my to do list between now and Christmas is long and ever growing and I have to work hard not to let it overwhelm me. I mean that in both the literal and the figurative sense. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and think about my list.

anticipation-the act of looking forward; especially: pleasurable expectation

Hubs had a meeting in Phoenix most of last week. He got home late Saturday afternoon and left this morning for China. I wonder if he was awake during the night pondering his to do list? We had a one day weekend which essentially was spent on the sofa alternately napping and watching football. If we are going to carry on at this pace we need regular naps on the couch. I did laundry and sat with all of my recipes and cookbooks and planned Thanksgiving menus and shopping lists. I cooked a new and delicious recipe in my crock pot which is definitely a keeper (maple braised pork chops). Is it sad that the highlight of my weekend was a meal? Okay, maybe not the highlight but definitely a highlight.

joy-the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.

While hubs was in Phoenix I spent a few days at my moms. I had a birthday dinner with my brother and sister in law, a birthday breakfast with my sister and nephew and did some Christmas shopping with my mom. Her to do list more than mine but I did manage to pick up one or two stocking stuffers. Hubs and I both have big families so there is lots of shopping and wrapping and shipping to be done plus I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 5 or 7 and I'm hosting my entire family, all 13 of us, for Christmas this year, and did I mention I have two little trips between now and Christmas so I really need to bring my A game when it comes to planning and organizing. Those thoughts belong in a run on sentence don't you think?

peace-inner contentment; serenity

When did this season of the year become so busy? My mother decorated and cooked and shopped and maybe she'd say it was all a little crazy but somehow I think we've managed to amp the whole thing up a few hundred watts. These days we need more than one beautifully decorated tree, side dishes that dazzle to accompany our meals, guest rooms with pillows perfectly plumped, coordinated gift wrap and clever packaging, and on and on it goes. Our expectations are so high and right along with those expectations come timetables and expenses and stress that somehow contradict the wondrous simplicity of a baby born in a manger.

love-a profoundly tender affection for another person

To be honest I don't know anyone who would say they aren't busy this time of year. We're all busy and somewhere along the road from there to here we've allowed the secular to overtake the real.

This year I want the real. I want to feel the anticipation. I don't want anything as trivial as a to-do list to steal my joy. And I definitely don't want to be the short-tempered, impatient, tired, wife/mother/sister/daughter/friend who was too 'busy' to love the people around me.

Most of all, I want to wallow in the peace ushered into this world by a baby in a manger on a long ago silent night.

this post is linked with the One Word Blog Carnival hosted by Peter Pollack