What’s your favorite day of the year? Want to know mine? January second. That’s right: the holidays are behind us, days are getting longer, and it’s time to settle in for a long winter’s nap.
Don’t get me wrong now, I love the holiday season. I really do. But you can have too much of a good thing. And doesn’t the month of December seem to be, well, kind of bloated? I mean, too much shopping, too much wrapping paper, too many parties, too much food and drink, and way too many fitful nights remembering that old Alka-Seltzer commercial. You know the one I mean. “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!” Well, I ate it Ralph. And I cooked it, too.
If you’re like me, doesn’t it seem like you’ve been cooking for weeks? That and meal planning, making grocery lists, shopping for the groceries and tryin’ to herd everyone out of the kitchen so you can do what you need to do. Then there’s the higher math involved in figuring out the timing for the multiple dishes you’ve got goin’ so everything is done at the same time and hot (or at least warm) when it hits the table. And tell me this: why does someone always disappear into the bathroom just when dinner’s served?
Questions, questions, questions. But here’s the biggie: after all this, what made me think it would be a good idea to host a New Year’s Eve party? And why did Charlie agree to it? He’s supposed to save me from myself.
I made it through Christmas just fine. That’s where I usually mess up. But, I gotta confess to you, my friends, that I did one of those things I always swear I’m not going to do, but have to do every once in awhile to remind myself not to do it again. I wiped myself out getting ready for our party. I mean, I got so into making everything perfect, when the big day arrived, I was too burned out to enjoy it.! My mother used to do that, too, and her mother before her. And working down to the A&P, I see way too many women who look like they’re marching in the same direction. Turn back, I want to yell. You can’t win this battle. Save yourself.
Ah well, the holidays are behind us, and we can settle back into our normal, little routines. Some people might call it a rut, but me? I take comfort in the rhythm of it: getting up, going to work, fixin’ a nice supper and rounding out the evening in front of the tube with Charlie. Cleaning the house on Saturday morning, having a girls’ night out once a week. No big hullabaloos. Just a bean supper every other weekend.
‘Course, special occasions wouldn’t be special if we didn’t have our normal routine, now, would they? And I plan to wallow in mine. I’m going to just snuggle up and enjoy ordinary, day-to-day life here in Mahoosuc Mills. Ahhhh. That’s my intention for the New Year. What’s yours?
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
IDA’S PODCAST: What Was I Thinking?
Upcoming Book Events and Performances
February 10: Book Reading: The Sweet Life, Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library Literary Luncheon, https://bbhlibrary.org/ 11:30, Bothbay Harbor, ME