Less was More

Almost by accident, we had a super chill Thanksgiving.  We didn’t go anywhere and no one came to our house.  We didn’t eat out (stressful with a 3 yr. old in tow) and I cooked once over the 4 day weekend.  We watched the Lions game.  I fell asleep at halftime & woke up in time to watch the Lions bite it in overtime.  Boo.

Dave took the boys to the park and I gladly cleaned up dishes, and caught up on laundry.  Ransom & I went to a super fun art party.  We went to bed early most nights and I made my workout 3 of the 4 days. (Yee haw).  We went hiking, to a park, to an annual Christmas lighting activity & our lil baby model was featured in the newspaper the next day.  The longsuffering hubz spent 4 hours getting up those last bit of leaves.

There were some hard parts, a few marital spats but overall it was a good weekend.  A contented weekend.  I felt great about keeping up with the basic tasks but not overly focusing on them at the expense of time with the kiddo’s.  I relished the family time, doing things with just the 4 of us.

I realized that I actually felt rested at Thanksgiving for the first time in years.  This was the first time in forever that we’ve stayed home, and didn’t try to shove the kids into experiences that stress them out.  I was able to sit around and BE with them.  And of course, take lots & lots of -mostly candid- pictures.

I got to watch the hubz wrestle with the boys while they laughed, snorted and scurried.  I got to read Marie Claire on my ipad and I got to clean (happily?) without the rush and stress of needing to rush off to work.

But most of all, I realized part of what made the weekend so much less stressful was the complete avoidance of shopping.  We didn’t think about shopping, we didn’t talk about shopping, we didn’t consider shopping.  I didn’t shop online, I didn’t look for things I wanted online and we didn’t allow commercials.  I deleted every single Black Friday email “exclusive invitation” I got.  (So exclusive they sent it ONLY me and 3 million other customers!)

We didn’t intentionally do this.  We don’t have an extra money for superfluous shopping so it worked out that way.  After 4 days I realized how restful it was to NOT be caught up in the muck and mire of desire.

And because we had no money to eat out I made goooood food.  And because we had no money to spend on expensive organized fun, we searched for all the free activities around town.

 Surprise, surprise it all turned out to be: really fun.  I’m definitely one of those people with a foundational belief that going over and above, spending MORE money and desiring BIG is going to be the MOST fun.

I will live my whole life trying to self correct these messy desires.

The truth is, when out of necessity we scale back, I realize how restful it is to NOT want stuff, to appreciate the FREE…the God given places He so carefully crafted together for us to enjoy.

Branch swinging anyone? (It’s free).

I must confess.  By the end of the 4.5 day weekend I was feeling ancy.  Ancy to get back to work, ancy to be alone, ancy to blog, ancy to read, ancy to journal, ancy to watch a movie made for human beings over 6 years old.  Even, dare I say, ancy to get back to my office where I could sit alone and in peace for 8 hours in one gloriously quiet day.

Blame it on the life stage, yo.  Having little people around with no real desire to allow you to sleep in or get a minute alone can be well, ya know, tiresome. When I admitted this myself the inner verbal tongue lashing was all Cruella DeVille up in this mug: “you Horrible Wretch of a Mother!”  Ahhh, but that’s another post for another day, eh?

For today, I see these pictures, I hold these memories in my heart, these boys in my arms & I have my extra pound to prove how good I ate and I know I’ve got it good.

So.  How  was your Thanksgiving?  Were you caught up in the crazy?  Stressed by the travel?  Bloated by the over-eating? Disappointed in the Lions?  Gained a pound like I did? Was less more for you? Or was more, more-than-enough?

It’s okay, hun, pour your little heart out to Mama Bear. =)