A Bundle of Myrrh

Our tree skirt was reminding me to PACE myself. “Pace on Earth” and in the parsonage. The Season of Christmas is behind us and it’s time to slowly undecorate our house. According to some sources, officially you can leave Christmas decorations up until February 2nd, The Purification of Mary. I take full advantage of that most years not having the energy, time or desire to remove Christmas items from our walls and shelves.

We do take down our tree before January 9th however due to the deadline our city gives us to dispose of trees for us free of charge. So Gerhardt and I took care of our tree together. It’s always sad to me how long it takes to decorate but how quickly everything comes right off.

Josephine helped us too.

It was after the tree was gone and the room was so bare that some wheels began to turn in my head. Most years once the tree is missing from the room it feels bare and depressing but this year I found I liked how the room felt. I liked the blank space and the openness that area had.

And maybe it was the Grinch within me but I suddenly had a strong desire to start removing everything in the house not just Christmas decorations. An empty house with clutterfree rooms with large areas to just be blank sounds so dreamy to me right now.

But there’s reality and balance and I strive to live there.

With a new year and new seasons I’m also having to rethink our days. Routines change frequently at our house. They are tweaked several times a year depending on the ages and personalities of the babies at home with me. And right now I’m feeling some readjustments coming on.

After a long break from routine and school we get back to it and figure out what changes need to be made.

Most of the changes are for me. Some of my goals for the next month and this Spring are:

1. Wake Earlier. I’ve gotten used to sleeping later in the mornings again. That’s one thing about not having a young baby in the house, sleeping more! I’m the one waking the babies up now instead of the other way around. But we’re finally all healthy for the time being and getting more rest through the nights so there’s no excuse to not get out of bed earlier!

I’ve found how much I love the early hours before the babies are on the move. It’s quiet and I need that quiet. It’s so much better for me to ease myself into the morning. That’s one of those facts that you know to be best but making it happen doesn’t always come about. I’ve also realized getting older how my body needs to be stretched out, like my joints and muscles need oiling before I can use them efficiently and painlessly. So Get OUT OF BED, stretch, read, drink coffee, THEN get the babies. Ahhh.

2. Get back on the wagon. After our trip to Texas last Summer (!) I stopped keeping a record of what I’m eating and I stopped getting exercise throughout the week. Boo. So I’m gonna get back to it as best I can. Getting back into the habbit of exercising is so hard. But I know I feel better when I do. So back to tracking what I eat via My Fitness Pal and attempting 2 days a week to walk on the treadmill or do a quick Jillian Micheals that evil lady.

3. Purge and Organize. Then Purge and Organize again. These two things are already habits of mine. My life is a constant “purge and organize” or “box it up, shove it in a corner and deal with it later.” As a wife and Mama I’m not only a manager of people but a manager of STUFF and I am really growing weary of the the second. I know it comes with the territory of being a homemaker and having a family etc. but I’m tired of using so much of my time on the stuff that I don’t have much time or energy for the people. Again it’s a matter of being pracitcle instead of reactionary but uffda! I just wanna get rid of everything.

So “Project Purge” is underway at the parsonage. We’ll see how extreme I can get or how quickly Phil can talk some sanity into my head.

4. Get Ephraim ready for school. This is pretty simple really. I like to work with whichever baby is going to be starting school next year. It’s not much, just making sure they are prepared to sit and learn once they are in a classroom (this is a life discipline) and getting familiar with the alphabet and numbers. I try to do a little “Pre-School” with Ephraim and Mercy a few days a week. Now that the big kids are back in school I’m trying to get back to this.

5. Get back to our Mystery of History lessons. Here again is something I’ve let slide over the last few months. But we’re back at it whether the babies like it or not!

Sound ambitious enough? Yes. Let’s see how this goes!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 19th, 2018 at 3:33 pm and is filed under At The Parsonage, Hearth and Home, Homemaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.