You just can't avoid it

No matter what I say or how hard I work to avoid it, the busyness of the holiday season creeps in until you're drowning in a full calendar without any warning.

I hate full calendars as a general rule. I prefer to keep it down to just a few scheduled things per week and have plenty of time open for last minute stuff. I do love to go and do and hang out with friends and I've found that having a busy calendar makes it so much harder because you've always got scheduling conflicts. As a result, I say no to a lot of activities and commitments and we're all much happier.

And then comes November.

And then December.

I've been trying to figure out when we can make a trip to Texas to visit the family and I'm having trouble finding a significant stretch of open days where we're not committed to 1001 different things. Mr. at Home is teaching, basketball is starting, we have concert tickets, K has a birthday party, there's a field trip, and a million Christmas parties for friends and groups of which we're a part. We don't have to do it all and we *won't* be doing it all, but there are enough "we really can't miss" events that it's overwhelming just looking at it.

Last week was the first hugely over-scheduled week (the girls were up late every. single. night.) and I survived because I kept telling myself it was just one week and the next one was much more quiet. Unfortunately, life intervenes. First thing in the morning, we'll be taking our car to the dealership because we got rear-ended on the way to church Sunday morning and by dinnertime, the check engine light had come on. After that, I have to make a run to the store to buy some chocolate for a friend whose son is having surgery in the afternoon. I have sat in that hospital waiting room myself while my own child has been the one with her life held in the surgeon's hands. I have to a least stop by for a few minutes.

Then L has dance and it's parent observation week, so I will be staying and cheering her on. We'll swing back by the house to pick up the rest of the family, drop Mr. at Home off at his uptown office, and we'll go commandeer a table the library so K can finish her schoolwork. At 3:30, we'll go to the hospital to deliver the chocolate, then it's back to pick up Mr. at Home, do a quick dinner, and he has to go back out to BSF while the girls and I collapse on the loft floor to watch a movie and unwind.

Thankfully, the rest of the week is still empty, but I have a feeling it won't stay that way.