Christmas is over. It was very nice, a little more calm with fewer gifts. I was able to enjoy it more and savor the faces of my little ones. Josh did a stellar job as usual choosing my gifts, though he did not stick to the one gift rule we (I) imposed this year. He says my standards are too strict. How can I fault him for spoiling me?
It's a strange thing to wake up the day after Christmas to a mess of boxes and shreds of paper still scattered on the floor. To still need to make breakfast and dinner. Life returns to normal rather quickly, though the bonus of this week is that my husband is on vacation. I got up early, he slept in. I savored my morning quiet with my giant cup of coffee and then started working on the Christmas gift leftovers. Kiddos were sleeping in and then lounging about on their new devices. We didn't even plug in the tree. We are fading back into normalcy.
But there is something really wonderful about that. I like schedules, routine, normalcy. Being able to count on my kind of coffee in the morning and the water pressure in my shower. I like making menus and lists of things we need at the grocery store. I like our hum-drum, routine days as much as I like our holidays.
In all the Christmas gift wrapping, I noticed we had a severe shortage of gift bags. We had some giant ones, but very few in the small to medium range. And planner that I am, one of my burning desires the day after Christmas was to hit up the 50% off sales somewhere and stock up on bags for next year. Yes. I am one of those people.
As timing would have it, in life in general and the day in particular, we have a responsible 13 year-old son and a little guy who was just going down for his nap. So it was the perfect opportunity to turn this holiday clearance shopping spree into a date. We even stopped at Starbucks for a coffee, which made the date official.
Josh is one of those rare guys that enjoys shopping. In fact, he once told me that his favorite thing to do with me is go shopping because we always find silly or crazy things to laugh at. We just have a good time together, no matter what we do. I love that our conversations don't get interrupted on these dates. We are goofballs and take silly selfies that nobody ever sees (except our best friends in Florida who get these via text). We just love spending time together, even if that time is spent at a department store buying toilet paper and gift bags for next year.
I say this often, but it's true. When we said "I do", I didn't realize I was marrying my best friend. Sure, I love the romantic moments, but I just love spending our everyday days together, too.
Currently on our life's soundtrack is this totally relatable song. If you've never heard Ben Rector, you are missing out. All of his songs are a treat. This is a favorite, one for those of us who live crazy, normal lives.
