The Holiday Report

Well as someone who hasn’t read the Bible has said, all good things must come to an end.

That is definitely the case for my holidays as tomorrow sees me return to work.  School also kicks off again so there’s all the fun for the children as well.

The Hols – In The Beginning

It’s worth noting how I’ve spent the holiday period for posterity.  The hols for me officially started on Thursday 18th December and it was that same weekend that the snow came down in its droves on Milton Keynes, so I spent an enjoyable few days from Friday to Saturday night stuck inside.  Deborah and I enjoyed the great snow from indoors as poor Authrine and her associates endured a long journey from MK to Nottingham to Gatwick back to MK.

My wife’s sister and children spent most of the holidays with us, hence the trip to Gatwick and to show God’s consideration, the flight of my wife’s sister – affectionately known as Pepsi – was the last one that landed before cancellations due to the weather!  Sunday to Tuesday was spent enjoying the snow and the company before the rest of the crew went up on Tuesday to Nottingham to be with Authrine’s cousin.  I was left on me own from Tuesday to Sunday – happy days!

In The Happy Days

I spent that time again holed up inside as the weather was not conducive to many forays in the great outside.  I was able to catch up with a little reading and really caught up with the programmes that had been recorded for eons on the ol’ SkyPlus box.  As well as that I was also merrily blogging along and some friends had given me some old Dr. Who serials so I whiled the time away musing on those.

I know it is a sin for me to be a hermit – I am called to be a social and relational being for His glory, yet I absolutely adore time on me own.  I’m with company I know very well and get on with extraordinarily, there’s little fuss and disagreement and with no hassle from other corners I can from time to time do things that I’ve wanted to do how I’ve wanted to do them.  So for that I was extremely grateful to God!

Return Of The Noise!

That came to an end on Sunday 26th December with the return of Authrine and her associates and what was once a quiet and serene environment was once more invaded with the joyful of humanity.  I got used to it again, but I did so crave that quiet!  Still, that’s the price of family life and it’s one worth paying for the joy I do get from my wife and beautiful children.

Preparations were underway for Deborah’s birthday party on Wednesday 29th and that party was a resounding success with family members popping over from the local area as well as Nottingham.  The rest of the week was spent winding down as Pepsi and her children got ready to return to the States from which they came.  I enjoyed having them around and it was good getting to know Pepsi a bit better.  She’s been a great sister to Authrine in 2010 and this was her fourth visit in the space of a year, which shows how much she cares.  It also tells you much about me that I’ve left it til now to get to know her a bit more, but it was worth the wait to get to know such a wonderful woman.

The Hols – In The End

By Saturday they were on the plane home and it suddenly occurred to me that in all that time off I had not actually just spent quality family time with the immediate folks and it also hit at that time how exhausting that week in particular had been.  My sleeping pattern has gone off something crazy in that time getting to sleep at silly times like 2am or 3am.  Nonetheless we were able to make the most of the weekend to gain some semblance of normality in preparation for the return of working and school life.

Today has seen some of the finishing touches domestically before normal service is resumed and in as much as I don’t have my work head on yet – that won’t happen til next week – I am consciously aware that the holidays are over and work will return soon.

I so love these holidays for the opportunity to basically hibernate and although the level of humanity hasn’t always made that possible I am glad for that five day gap near the beginning to at least chill.

My body clock usually takes from January to March to slowly build momentum for a great gust of energy over the Spring and Summer months, so I’ll look forward to that slow build-up business over the rest of these Winter months.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd