Merry Christmas!

Christmas is a time for family, celebrating the birth of Christ, and exhaustion. Between gifting, baking, cooking, hosting, shopping, trying to find time for prayer and reflection, keeping up with laundry and the day to day household tasks, and making sure the kids are getting some understanding of what Christmas is all about…..

I’m tired.

It’s not just being a mom and the domestic engineer that makes this entire ship we call a family run with some semblance of a smooth course, it’s the draining of the social batteries. On our best days those of us who incline towards introversion don’t mind some socializing. It does help us keep our social skills in working order and reminds us that there is a bigger world outside our cozy little routine. But hanging out with family and friends, managing kids who have eaten too much sugar or haven’t eaten at all, and trying to remember who to thank for the enormous gift basket of goodies is tiring. Add on two days of Masses thanks to how the Advent and Christmas calendars work out this year….and I’m already tired tomorrow.

I’m not complaining. Well, maybe I am. But just a little. Christmas this year is actually more relaxed than it has been and everything is shaping up to be a wonderful next few days. Cookies are baked, gifts wrapped, everyone is off school and no on has obligations outside of Saturday Vigil Mass, Christmas Vigil Mass, and Christmas Day fun. It truly is a wonderful time of year and I’m very grateful for the loving family I’m spending it with and all the blessings God has showered on us this season.

But I’m still tired.