Have you ever noticed that we–well, some of us–tend to daydream only the ideal?

For instance, last spring, I had visions of a lazy summer ahead, spending days in the pool with the boys, meeting up with a few friends for afternoons at the beach, reading books in a cool house during nap time.

Reality? I was too scared to take a two year old and a seven month old to the pool on my own, and we the number of times we went to the beach last summer? Once. And that was after John came home from Iraq. And the books… I read a few when I was in Colorado with 24-hour help in the form of a 3:2 adult to child ratio.

Another example would be this thing of, you know, Christmas.

In my imaginings, we were going to spend our days coloring Christmas pictures, doing crafts, making cookies and giving them to friends. I’d have my shopping done early and spend the boys’ nap times addressing Christmas cards while It’s A Wonderful Life played before my eyes. John would come home every evening to the candles burning, Andy Williams playing on the stereo and hot soups and warm rolls waiting at the table.

The reality this time is that it’s taking me two days to get back on my feet after Crazy Week 2008.

Last week was really just what has become a typical Christmastime week for most people. The difference was just that, as usual, I had still pictured “ideal” when looking ahead to what my calendar told me would be a little… shall we say… insane.

The good things were that for at least half the week, the candles were still burning when John came home and we did have decent dinners–although maybe not soup. We also had done all our decorating the day after Thanksgiving, so that wasn’t an issue.

It might have all been fine it everything went as planned. We had a such a nice little plan. If all the characters moved just so and the lighting on each scene ended at precisely the right time… we’d be good.

But, people, when do the characters EVER move just so? And lighting is always a little off, which can sometimes reveal the moments we did NOT want the audience to see.

But, technical difficulties aside, I’m happy to report that Crazy Week ’08 is officially over.

Now it’s time to do a bit of a slooooow dowwwwn.

I’m almost caught up with the laundry I never finished last week as we hustled and bustled from here to there. John wonderfully, sweetly offered to make a quick grocery run last night to do some restocking–which was great considering that upon opening the cupboards to make dinner last night, I was greeted by plenty of food, just not much that, you know, goes together. It seems that in our haste, we (read: I) had tossed together whatever we (read: I) could find, forgetting that those ingredients already had homes in the week’s to-be-made meals.

So today we’re moving a bit slower. The boys are napping, and I’m sitting on the couch with my laptop, stopping every couple minutes to take a whiff of the purty fir tree next to me. We just have a few loose ends to wrap up when it comes to Christmas shopping, and, hey, we’re even planning a little Christmas craft tonight after dinner.

I’d say we’re doing good and, even though we took a bit of a break for a heavy dose of Crazy, it’s starting to feel Christmasy around here.

What about you? Are you the candle burning, soup stirring, quiet Christmas kind? Or do you prefer the sound of jingle bells on department store doors as you hustle and bustle in your favorite red sweater, wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone you meet?

(Also, this post? I’ve started it about ten times over the past few days, getting maybe a sentence or two written each time. There WERE a few moments when we’d sit down. Of course, they were usually followed closely by the closing of the eyes and drifting off to lala land… thus the fate of this poor neglected post. It’s okay, little postie, I’ll hit publish eventually. Just once I can first, you know, BREATHE.)

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