Realistc Expectations

Less than a week until Christmas, but more importantly today is Michael's last day at work. We look forward to this long stretch of togetherness all year long. The rub, however, is that I never really am on vacation, because my job is here. Laundry and cooking and housework never go away. So today I will work hard to get ahead. I have two crockpots going...one filled to the brim with scalloped potatoes and ham, one with hamburger mac soup. Perfect more than one meal dinners. Some foods are even better leftover and these both qualify. That should cover today and through the weekend. Jello salad, sugar cookies, all made with the weekend in mind.

 I will clean deeply today, so that I can run over things lightly each day for the next few day. Good is good enough, right? Right. Sheets have been all washed and changed and won't get done again for awhile. We shower daily, so how dirty do sheets really get anyways? All laundry will get done today and then not again until Monday. A girl needs a break from the laundry every now and then. Two days off seem fair, plus no mess in the mudroom that way.

I know my expectations are rarely met for this vacation time. I envision Norman Rockwell and it just isn't real. The food will run out and I will need to make more. Laundry will pile up, no matter how much I want a break. Let's face it, we are a bunch of messy, sinful people... which is exactly why we need Christmas in the first place. Jesus came to our messy, sinful world to redeem us. Not to make life perfect, but to make us his own dear children. Messy, imperfect, hungry children, but His none- the-less. God is good!