2010 Holidays.

The Christmas holidays are over, and once again, I’m ambivalent about this. On the one hand I really enjoy having Hubby and the kids around, sleeping late and not having to cram all the extra murals into a limited amount of time. On the other I want to have my personal space back, being able to drop off the kids at school, go to Tai Chi classes and do all the running around that a stay-at-home mom does, without having to worry that the everyone is fed and watered, and kept entertained.

You would think that the children would be the most demanding, wanting to be taken to the movies, or schlepped to friends for play dates, but no, that award goes to Hubby. Every year-end his condition gets aggravated. You see he has this chronic case of the ‘Can-you’s’ that flares up during this time. I don’t think he can control it, he just blurts out, “Can you please do this? or Can you please fetch that?” in a very nice reasonable tone, that of course you can’t say no to, especially because he’s doing stuff that will end up making your life easier in the end. The problem is that his disorder only acts up when I’m in the middle of something myself, for example washing dishes that I’ve let pile up and now are so irritating that I have to do them now or ditto for laundry. Stuff I don’t really want to do but have finally plucked up the courage and willpower to do, stuff that needs momentum to finish successfully… then along come the ‘Can-you’s’. I guess it could be worse, he could have a case of the ‘Get-me’s’ as in ‘Get me a cup coffee or get me lunch’. That condition I know there is no cure for; my Dads had it for as long as I can remember.

Everybody is back into their routine now. Hubby is back at work. Josh has started ‘big school’, entering Grade one bespectacled and sombre with the immensity of it all. Jamie filled with excitement at seeing his friends, has planned visits at their houses without even asking my permission, and already set high academic goals for the year ahead. Life’s back to normal for me too, an ever growing list of stuff to do, a dreaded upcoming fortieth birthday and lots of studying and writing.

2011 stands before us full of promise and adventure, let’s grip it by the ears and give it a good shake, if we are lucky, it won’t bite us or punch us in the nose.