Time To Relax

That's it.  We are done.  No more Christmas concerts to attend.  No more presents to wrap.  No more Christmas talent shows to watch.  No more nativity plays to go to.  No more class parties to bake for.  No more kris kringle gifts to buy.  No more school.  No more work.  And I am grateful.

On Wednesday morning I started to get a stiff neck.  As the day progressed my neck got worse and worse.  By the time we got to the kids' Christmas concert that night I could barely move it.  Of course, other mothers at the concert noticed and asked me what was wrong.  I told them I just got a stiff neck out of no where and it was getting worse.  "Stress!" they all said in unison.  "Trust me.  It's stress!" they repeated when I told them I didn't feel stressed.  

But, three days later I still have a very stiff neck.  Well, fine.  Maybe I'm a little stressed.

Today was complete and total craziness.  This morning I dropped the boys off at school at 8:15, handed out all the teachers' presents, handed out the boys' kris kringle gifts, and distributed the food for the class parties. Then I loaded Grace back into the car and took her back home for ten minutes to change into her fancy clothes (she didn't get to wear them yesterday because school was cancelled) and then headed back to school for Tommy's nativity play (he was the narrator) with the rest of his 2nd grade class which started at 8:45.   The play was done and we were back home by 9:15.  At 10:00 we were back at school for the school talent show (Ben and Joey were both in the talent show with their classmates).  We were home by 12:30, fed the kids, and were back in the car by 1:30 to visit Todd's dad at the nursing home.  We sang Christmas carols for the residents (there was a piano player/singer there today) and Gracie danced for everyone in her fancy clothes.  We stayed there for almost two hours.  Next it was on to Todd's mom's house to plow out her driveway while I ran to the store for last minute errands.  

We finally made it home by 5:30.  Exhausted.  Well, I was exhausted.  The kids were, of course, still full of it.  I don't know where they get their energy from.

We are not making any plans for the next few days.  We are just hanging around.  Relaxing.  Maybe making some more treats just because we can.  We used part of our "snow" day yesterday making our first ever batch of peppermint bark.  Thank you Elaine for the idea and the great recipe.  It is a hit!  Tomorrow I think we'll move on to ginger snaps.  Or maybe fudge.  

Either way, I may not be hanging around bloggyland very much.  Instead I'll be greatly reducing my stress with baths, reading, maybe a couple of runs, and gorging myself on all kinds of yummy treats.   I can't wait.  I think I'll start right now.

Hope you are all finding ways to relieve the stress of the season.