If you are like me (and I’m guessing you are), you are feeling at loose ends after flying high over Christmas vacation. We had a wonderful Christmas time. The girl’s Christmas program came off without a hitch, we had a fun family Christmas before we hiked off to ND for five days to be with my husband’s family. All the cousins were there this year, so it was a hullabaloo, to say the least. Two new babies joined the family. One was 3 weeks old, and the other one was born while we were there, so the excitement was running high. We got to stop in and see the new wee one on our way home. Such a sweet little thing. 

Now we are back home. The New Year is here and I think about getting back into real life. Packing lunches. School schedule. Cleaning, laundry and cooking. Honestly, I feel tremendously let down after this Christmas for some reason. Some years are worse than others and I don’t know what the difference is. I have been trying to figure out how to ease myself back into a daily rhythm. 

No matter if this is a new thought to you or not, it is nice to be reminded that we don’t have to do everything at once. There is no need to make a To Do list as long as your arm and force yourself to get it all done within the week. Here is my list of things to do. It does not include the obvious. We all will need to cook and clean a bit. Laundry isn’t something that needs to go on your list. So this collection of ideas is what to do in between all the things you can’t get out of. It’s for the times when you wonder what is next. Look to this list to help you get settled back in and land your plane with as few bumps as is possible.

• Do what interests you. If rearranging your living room gives you good energy, do it!
• Throw something away. In my case it was paper chains my girls had a blast making in early December. It gave me just as much joy to toss them now.
• Clean something. I noticed my fan over the stove was looking very greasy. Without further ado, I gave it a cursory wipe down and felt virtuous the rest of the day. Early start to spring cleaning and all.
• Straighten something. Our office had been sadly neglected the last few weeks, so that was one of the things I started on first. I didn’t do anything in depth; I just left some other things undone to make a semblence of order in the office so I could even think about the other parts of my house. It’s not done. I just feel a bit better because I took care of the obvious clutter so we don’t have to walk on trails!
• Make some meal plans. We got home and it seemed like we had no food in the house besides stuff that took a long time to prepare like frozen meat or raw potatoes. Alison and I went shopping and while we were eating lunch I wrote down our favorite meals and listed the things I would need to get for those meals. Nothing is assigned to a certain day, I just know that I have ingredients for our favorite foods now.
• Get rid of Christmas candy. My oldest sister did this some of the time. New Year’s day rolled around and the leftover candy went in the trash. It’s better to get rid of it now than to try to get rid of it in three months when your dresses are a bit snug around the hips. In an effort to be truthful, I still do have some in the freezer. I guess the freezer is second best. Certainly better than the counter top!
• Put something away. I took down the creche. Packing it away was just as fun as getting it out, although for some reason my girls weren’t as excited to help me pack it away as they were to help me get it out!
• Light a candle. This always adds good ambience to whatever you are doing.
• Diffuse some essential oils. By now you know the candle should be non-scented and made of beeswax. (Mine is from Walmart. I’m sure it ticks all the boxes;) Bring in a healthy scent with E oils. My diffuser quit working so first on my list was get a new one. Here’s a clue: Cheap ones work just as well as expensive ones. Don’t waste your money!
• Remind yourself how good it feels to be home. That always makes me feel better about the let down after a vacation. It feels good to be home and I know that schedules feel great once you get over the bump of getting back into them.
• WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS: Take a reading break. This one has been high on my list the last few days. Sometimes that looks like reading a book to the girls or listening to an audiobook while I fold the mountain of laundry on my bed. I love sitting down with a hot drink and an actual book in my hand, too. It feels so luxurious. If you can’t justify the break, call it self-care. Then it is a constructive break.

This list is not meant to be done all at once. Choose a thing or two off of it to help you get started. I have been doing these things over the last four days and it has really helped me to calm down and do something without thinking I have to get it all done at once.

I hope you have a wonderful relaxed New Year and 2024 brings you all the good things you are so wishing for. And good books. That is, after all, a big part of enjoying life!

Tell me how you get back into real life. What are your tricks to helping everyone get over sleep deprivation along with starting back into a schedule? Most of all, tell me which books you are reading in the new year. I have read a few good ones lately that I plan to tell you about soon!

-Eva

Stats from 2023

Looking for more to read? Here are the top posts of So She Reads for 2023. Thanks for reading our blog and to those of you who are brave enough to leave comments – we love reading them!

We Need you Teachers at 5,777 views

It Takes a Village to Raise a Teacher at 5,757 views

Come Go Along to Bible School at 2,059 views

Ways to Practice Contentment at 1,062 views

Here’s a few stats from our blog:

50,547 page views

66 posts added in 2023

227 comments (Did I mention we love comments? All 227 of them!!)

August 11 was the day with the most views. It was a post about teachers and schools. Looks like everyone is interested in our schools!

United States, Canada and Tanzania are the most popular countries. One day I saw someone had read the blog from Greece. Dear Greek, if you are reading this can you please comment so I know who you are? Thanks, Eva

Most people reading this blog are on an Android device. Sorry, Apple.

All of these stats are made possible because we have such great readers. Liz and I could write all day every day but if we didn’t have readers it wouldn’t really be worth it. Thanks for reading. Thanks for sharing. And thanks for letting us know that you enjoy So She Reads. You are what makes this worthwhile!

If you like So She Reads, we would love to have you recommend it to others! Links on your status or word of mouth both work great for sharing.

(Images in this post are credited to The Besotted Bookworm.)