I wrote this during the first week of break, but I think it might be valuable to post anyway, so I’m going to try to make it sense and put it up.
This was a nice break. Tomorrow I go back to work and I don’t feel horrible about that. I mean, I’m not excited to wake up at 6am, but I’m not dreading being in front of students on Tuesday. I honestly kind of wish I were teaching tomorrow, instead of in meetings all day…
So what made this break pretty nice? Let’s take a look…
The frigid weather eased, and for most of the break the house was at a much more comfortable temperature. The heat didn’t have to blast constantly to keep us at 63* and we were not sleeping with extra blankets on at night (at least not for most of the break). Also, the rainy week has not been as constant as I feared. There are breaks every day; the 15yo and I were able to take advantage of one to walk to Grocery Outlet over the weekend and the husband and I walked to lunch before Christmas. I don’t mind the grey as much if it means we can still get out every once in a while. (It actually rained a TON after we got back from our trip, and I’m super over it at this point…)
Getting all the wrapping done on the Friday before break, when I had the house to myself, was a very clutch move indeed. I am so glad I did that. I usually have to stay up way too late one night right before Christmas to wrap, and I’m so glad I did not have to do that this year.
The husband being away the second week of December helped him be extra appreciative of all I do. He is always appreciative of my Christmas efforts because I do pretty much all the work making the holidays happen, but this year he was even more so. He even tried to do a little more around the house!
Last Sunday the husband and I saw a movie without the kids (they can be alone for those 3+ hour stretches now without issue). Last Tuesday we walked to lunch alone. Both were marvelous little oases of adult time in a sea of kid-time at home. We saw another movie on the Friday after Christmas, while the 12yo had a friend over! (I checked with the parents before I bought tickets.) Probably this post should just be called, long breaks are much easier when your kids are older.
Having Death Valley to look forward to definitely helped the first week. I watched the video on how to use the camper van and got really excited. I spent much of the first week reading blogs for must-see views and recommended hikes and got even more excited. I spent a lot of time planning and packing. It was really nice to have something AFTER Christmas to be excited about.
The trip ended up being really nice. I mean, it wasn’t perfect, but we got to spend a lot of time outside after all the rain (and more to come after the trip). We honestly lucked out on being there when we were, getting one day of sun and one day of partial clouds and no rain until we drove home. It was an adventure and we made great memories and I’m absolutely glad we planned it last minute.
It was really nice to have four full days at home after the trip. I did NOT love having to take down Christmas after the New Year, but I also didn’t let it stress me out and it ended up being fine. I was able to get us unpacked from the trip, get Christmas packed up and put away, AND even steam cleaned the floors! All before the kids’ went to my parents’ house for the final night, so we could celebrate our anniversary.
I love that our anniversary is always the last weekend of the break. Its nice to have one last night alone together before we go back to reality.
All in all, it was a good winter break. I remember feeling pretty meh after the last winter break, even though we went to the snow! So I’m feeling pretty satisfied as I prepare for re-entry tomorrow. It’s going to be SO HARD to get up at 6am tomorrow. Truly I am kind of terrified. But I’ll do it, and I will survive, and hopefully by the end of next week I’ll be back on my normal sleep routine.
How are you feeling after the holidays?
Are you ready to re-enter your real life, if you got to spend some time away?
” long breaks are much easier when your kids are older.” YESSSS, 100%. I don’t even know if it would have helped to read that when my kids are little (because when they are little it sort of feels like they will always be little!?) but it’s still so very true.
I’m glad your break was good overall!!! And I hope Re-entry is as easy as it can be!
It is so very true! But I think there is a learning curve to actually taking full advantage of how much easier they can be and we’re finally on the other side of that learning curve (with kids at 12 and 15.5yos). The break feels so much more… expansive… when we take advantage of being able to be away from our kids for even short stints. Seeing movies and taking long walk to leisurely lunches definitely made the break better!
And next they start leaving home! It is astonishing how that changes so fast…. one minute they are doing 2 hour feedings and the next they are living in other places. Maybe across the country or overseas where you cannot walk to see them no matter how many days you walk… Even today it feels VERY far away when you can not walk there because of oceans…
Glad you did present wrapping early. Hope this morning went well and your classes are smooth tomorrow despite the weather and return from break.
VERY best wishes.
This does sound like you had a great break – so much balance . . . plenty of family time and accomplishing things along with adult time.
My break . . . well I didn’t realize until midway through yesterday that some of my families needed care today and that threw me off my A game for a moment, but it is fine. I had college kids home to babysit the toddlers so I could go for a run. We did a lot of entertaining and hosting, which forced us to get the house in order. I do love to be forced to get the house in order. I slept late quite a bit, which was amazing. I had a really horrible experience with my two sisters, and that’s been a time suck. I hope next year we can travel over the holidays, because I think a change of scenery (and less physical gifts and more time together) will be good.
It is nice that I can ease back into my babysitting gig this week, because I have college kids home to get groceries or stick here while I run errands, etc.
Oh good! I’m glad you’re happy with the break and not too bummed about starting school again. Yep, it’s SO MUCH EASIER when kids are older!!! I’ve been feeling a little down about Christmas being over, but it’s always that way for me this time of year. I’ll snap out of it. Okay, I’m off to read your Death Valley post!!!
Love to hear that you enjoyed your break and that you did get two full weeks off! I think that should be mandatory around the holidays! (I worked a few days between Christmas and New Year’s and it didn’t feel like a break at all, even though I had two long weekends.