Well, Carson and I go back to school and work tomorrow.  Blair started working and getting some field experience hours this week before she goes back to school this weekend and Davis has been working off and on until he resumes his normal schedule on Monday. We're all trying to gear up to make our reentrance into real life.  There are those couple of weeks there between Christmas-ish and New Year's-ish when the whole world seems to be in limbo.  It's a unique time of year in which we all put it in neutral, rest from the weariness of the season, and repeatedly ask each other, "What day is this?"  That first morning back to reality is always a slap in the face though. 

With the kids being out of school, I've been off a lot more than usual, myself.  We've been going to bed....oh, around 1:00 a.m. and getting up just about the time our skin had started to graft to the mattress.....usually that awkward hour when you can't really decide whether you should eat breakfast or just hang on a minute or two and have lunch.  Really, you could go either way.  There's no right or wrong answer at that hour. 

After we'd eat breakfast or lunch or brunch, we'd sit around and try to get awake.  You know after you sleep for 10 hours, it takes a while for your body to wake up and adjust to things such as consciousness, uprightness, and light.  We'd usually sit staring blankly at the TV screen and before we knew it, we'd find ourselves hooked on some three hour documentary about something like the lifecycle of the Mongolian Poplar tree or the migratory patterns of the ruby-throated hummingbird.  Changing the channel seemed way too complicated and involved considering our degree of sleep hangovers and all.

By the time we would finally get showered and dressed, it would be afternoon.....and I use the word, "dressed", in the loosest of ways.  I don't know about where you live, but it's been very cloudy, rainy, and cold around here and that has done nothing but fuel our idleness.  It's been a while since we've put on pants that weren't either made of flannel or held up with a drawstring.  Bras have been optional.  Makeup......nah.  We did make an exception for church Sunday.....let me just be clear on that.   

I had all of these grand plans about cleaning and organizing the house during my time off.  In my mind, I was going to clean those places that have been neglected like under the refrigerator, the return air vent, behind the toilets, and the baseboards under the beds......you know, those places that only mother-in-laws would think to look.  Did I get any of that done?  That would be a no, no, no, and a no.....in that order.  I was also going to do my annual household purging and organizing.....an activity that brings me great pleasure.  Did I get that done?  Psssshhh.  The only things that were purged were any thoughts of cleaning anything........except my plate.        

Which brings up the whole issue of holiday eating madness.  You know how you have all those goodies sitting around in Christmas tins and those storage containers that your mother uses to send things home with you after you've eaten at her house.  You have all these wonderful things, you only get once a year, sitting around and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.  After all, you convince yourself that you'll start doing better when you get back in a routine.  You start eating things like cheese straws, Martha Washington balls, and divinity for breakfast and, by January, you don't see what's so wrong with that.  I'm pretty sure the kids have dug a breakfast or two out of their stockings.  It's just what you do when it's Christmas break and you have a neglectful mother.

When a people group has descended this far into the pit of sorry-ness, it is not a quick or easy ascension back to a life of productivity and fruitfulness......but.....tomorrow, we will begin the climb into real life where people actually contribute to society and........well.........wear pants.  We may have a couple of dry runs tonight with the alarm clocks.....reacquaint ourselves with all those foreign buttons.

It's time for our idle hands to shut down the "devil's workshop" and get back to work.   

Be sure to speak if you see any of us tomorrow.  You can't miss us......we'll be the ones squinting at the sunlight, confused about mealtimes, and borderline catatonic until around noon.  By Friday, we should be fine and start blending in with society. 
 

Hope your transitioning back into post-Christmas life is without incident.

Happy Wednesday!!