I spent a lot of time Monday going through the lists of what I’ve bought everyone for Christmas, and organizing things into what is being wrapped and what is potentially coming through other gift delivery systems. Some stuff has not arrived yet, so always good to figure this out so it can be tracked down. I started the wrapping project. Each child gets different wrapping paper, and everyone is going to unwrap 7 gifts. (To be clear — some of these are small. They don’t get 7 big gifts!).
It is…a lot of work. I’ve also been working hard on learning my Bach for the B-Minor mass. I’m happy to report that at rehearsal on Monday I knew my notes cold. I never got lost, even in those long runs of crazy 5 or 6 part harmony where I’m in the middle of everything (second soprano line). Now the goal is to mostly be able to look up and to really be able to listen to everyone else.
I am really enjoying the music, though. Hopefully the music will sound like magic, remembering the line that “all magic is just labor, hidden well.” I suppose that is true of the writing of this piece three centuries ago too!
In the meantime, I went to one band concert this week, and I have another kid band concert and choir concert to go to next week. Today I read at the preschool to celebrate the 4-year-old’s upcoming birthday. That happens over the holiday break, so we’re celebrating ahead of time. This weekend there is a choir concert and breakfast with Santa and an office holiday party. And hopefully a little downtime for puzzles.
In the meantime, some of this week’s content….Over at Vanderhacks (my Substack newsletter), I talked about “How to embrace the resolutions preseason” (that one’s behind the paywall). I also suggested that people “Find a micro-hobby” to celebrate their time confetti, and I wrote about how “Open space invites opportunity.” Please consider either a free or paid subscription!
Before Breakfast also had some holiday content, with a suggestion to “Give experiences,” and to “Remember to enjoy yourself.” (Worth noting this time of year!) I also interviewed the incredibly prolific romance and thriller novelist Sarina Bowen. She talked about how she gets ideas, keeps track of her ideas, and then executes on these ideas (to the tune of multiple bestselling books a year; her thriller The Five Year Lie recently hit #1 for thrillers on Audible). Please check that out too!
We seem to be in the minority in not having any music concerts during this time of year. Most I know have some sort of concert. Maybe that will happen in middle school? But I have heard of others with kids in elementary school with concerts in December. I am relieved to not have any! The boys sing in church this Sunday but it will be one song each and I would be there anyways. It will be cute to see them perform, especially the 3-4 year group!
We had a December birthday earlier in the month and it kind of pushed me to shop earlier. I bought a number of things and then figured out what to give for birthday or Christmas. The birthday boy is still a bit light on gifts so I need to supplement with a few more but am otherwise done. But I have far fewer to buy for and they will each get 4-5 things (mostly small) each. But I am glad it’s mostly been wrapped!
Do your children get gifts from others too? Our kid gets gifts from grandparents and godparents and sometimes even her babysitter. That’s why we try to limit us to one or two gifts because they end up with 7 gifts after all.
@Maggie – they do sibling gifts, so they get gifts from each other. But we open those at an entirely separate time, so it’s like a second Christmas celebration. But yes, no one is hurting for presents around here…