I have to say I am not one of those who is longing to get back into a normal routine. I wish these days after Christmas, before academics start up, would simply last forever. Today was a typical day — Liam and I woke up about 7:30 along with Aidan, and we sat by the fireplace typing our stories on our laptops. Before I start typing I’ve learned to: let the dog out, get the fire going, start the coffee, and get Aidan installed to watch a video with his cereal and a couple of games. He watches and plays and eats for about 40 minutes while I get going on my writing.
By the time he is finished watching, the other kids are usually up, but the older ones usually get their own breakfasts and usually provide for the little ones too. And by that time the interruptions don’t really ruin my train of thought — once I’ve gotten started, it takes a lot to dislodge my focus. That is a right brained trait, you know — hyper focus!
About ten I start the day — today I looked at the calendar, made some phone calls, did a bit of housework, and played Robo Rally with some of the kids and Kevin. I played with Aidan for a bit, and made a frappucino for Brendan. Then I went out to the porch and shoveled the rest of the glacier/snow fall-off off of our porch. Liam helped me and so did Aidan. Brendan got the firewood stacked under cover since we are supposed to get a lot of snow in the next few days. We had lunch and talked about honor — I forget how it came up.
In the afternoons I usually blog a bit, or work on organizational things, and read, then have a rest. After that it is time to make another pot of coffee and start dinner. After dinner I play a game with the kids, or yesterday I cut Liam’s hair and played classical guitar with him. Clare puts on music or plays her violin. The kids do the clean-up.
I do some more reading — it’s been encyclicals recently, for some reason I’m just devouring them — and then give the little ones baths if necessary. Then I play and cuddle with Aidan before he falls asleep, say a Rosary with Liam and sometimes Clare, and then read to Paddy before he goes to sleep.
We tried to keep these two weeks clear of appointments as much as possible, though Aidan did have OT yesterday, so that we can stay mostly around the house. But I’ve been able to catch up on a few calls to friends and so have the kids.
What’s missing here is exercise, of course. In an ideal world I would go for a walk after lunch in our beautiful snowy mountains. I love walking. But Aidan would be tragic to be left behind, and mobility is too difficult for him for a “real” walk — there are steep slopes all around our house that are slippery this time of year. Still, I really ought to make the effort to get outside and stroll around with him, even if it’s only for a hundred yards or so.
On Sunday Liam goes back to college, and on Monday we gear up the homeschool again. But in the meantime, it has been a very good vacation. I am trying to figure out what makes it so nice — so that I can bottle it up and keep it forever, of course! But that would probably defeat the delight right there, because several of the things that make it nice — Liam being home, the snow covering everything, my story going pretty well, the extra time to get things done, the 9 plus hours of sleep per day (AH!), the extra candy and screen time — are things that either can’t be here all around the year, like Liam, or that I wouldn’t want to have around all year, like snow and hours of “screen time” for the kids. So no bottles stored in the pantry and no recipe card. But it has been nice.
