It's coming down to the wire in terms of having our reno finished in time for our company. Painting is finished and the redo colour I picked (called Wintry Sky, by Cloverdale) for the bedroom/bathroom is fantastic. It's the exact grey-blue I was hoping for and I'm so glad we repainted it. Flooring and baseboards were installed Tuesday and wallpaper is going in on Monday. I ran downstairs to get some meat out of the freezer last night and it was so weird to step off our carpeted steps onto more carpet instead of a cement floor. It feels like a real living space now and it's exciting to see it coming along. Hugh still has a huge check list of lighting/plumbing fixtures/building cabinets etc to get the bathroom done. Plus we have an entertainment unit to build, pictures to hang, and all of our stuff in the garage - like the spare bed - has to get brought back in at some point before everyone arrives. Not to mention the whole basements needs a good cleaning.
Last night after doing my holiday grocery list I wrote a list of all the things I have to do between now and Christmas. Every moment of every day, including Christmas Eve, is accounted for. And I don't have anything basement related on my list. I am feeling very overwhelmed. And whenever I feel this way I crave tea and shortbread.
I have a pretty large, pretty eclectic collection of Christmas mugs. Hugh and I have been married for almost 11 years and every year for Christmas and sometimes for my birthday too he has bought me a Christmas mug. This year when I was unpacking them I realized they all have dates on the bottom so I lined them up on my counter according to year, a sort of Christmas mug timeline of our marriage. Each mug has a memory or feeling attached to it and one mug in particular I use whenever the busyness of the season threatens to consume me.
The Christmas I got this particular mug my twins were 4 months old and Hugh was still youth pastoring. That Fall had been difficult for us both. I had always been a very active part of Hugh's ministry and literally overnight I was cut-off and thrown into the confusing, emotional, exhausting role of new mother. And I had twins. Meanwhile Hugh was trying to find a way to cut down all the nights out (before babies he was literally out 4 or 5 nights each week) and still be effective while also being exhausted. When you're just learning how to nurse and then you're nursing two babies at once, everybody gets up at 5am to help!
I think we were very naive about the toll having two babies was going to take and so we didn't plan for it. We tried to do all the same things we had done in previous years which meant by the time we got to Boxing Day I was so beyond tired all I could do was cry. To be fair by the time Boxing Day came each year we youth pastored I pretty much felt done with Christmas and just needed some time to decompress - which we never got because we had to be gearing up for our New Year's Eve event and there was always a church service or two between Christmas and New Years and it was people, people, people, event after event after event with no room to breathe.
The Christmas the babies were 4 months old I stayed home from church the first Sunday after Christmas Day. I hadn't yet figured out how to nurse two babies in public without being arrested for public nudity and the babies had recently changed their feeding schedules so I stayed home. I stayed in my cozy Christmas flannels, made a cup of tea in my new Christmas mug put a few shortbread cookies on a plate and curled up under a blanket on the couch with my book. Miraculously the babies napped all morning. I still remember every detail of that morning six years ago. It is so crystal clear how quiet and still my house felt. I remember the feel of the warm cup cradled in my hands, the sounds of the pages of my book turning. I even still remember the book I was reading - Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I didn't move all morning except to make a fresh cup of tea. It was the most glorious day of the entire Christmas season.
When I hold this mug, which fits so perfectly in my hands, I feel like I hold the peace of that morning six years ago. Today, as I look at my list and think of all the things I need to do/make/get ready, I really need that peace. And also a shortbread cookie.
It's funny cause although it has been 6 years I too remember when you got that mug. We were still neighbors at that point. I also remember how crazy that first Christmas with your twins was. You are an amazing woman and I am in awe of you as a mother. God doesn't just give twins to just any woman. He gives them to those he knows can handle it and do it with grace and love.
ReplyDeleteIt's so true though, a cup of tea can make anything better. At least, that's how I feel. A few Sunday's ago I was having a rough morning and we were running late for Sunday School, but Jeremy took the time to go to Tim Horton's because he could tell that a steeped tea was just what I needed.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever read the Christy Miller series when you were younger? I used to light candles and plug in Christmas lights and make a pot of tea and pretty much live in my room and read those books. Those are some of my fondest memories.