Give me one week off work each year when the office is closed – no email to check, no wondering what’s going on back at the office while I am sick or on vacation or taking a ‘mental health day.’ Each year, our offices close for the week between Christmas and New Year’s and it is truly a gift. I start to look forward to it sometime after Halloween and start making a list of possible things to do during my one, glorious week, most of it to myself while the kids are at winter camp. (Yes, I make a list. It may be a week “off,” but Type As still need to plan!) A matinee movie or two is always on the list. For a working parent, it seems simply extravagant to go to a movie in the middle of a weekday. Then there is cleaning out closets, donating stuff, catching up on the girls’ scrapbooks pages, finding a recipe for, and making, tortilla soup, and filling in important dates on my unblemished, sparkling blank new year’s calendar (Type A, remember). It’s Friday of that glorious week in 2011 and I didn’t get to most of the things on my ambitiously-planned list. Do I feel a tinge of guilt? No. For this working mother, the past week has recharged my batteries and given me much needed time to myself, not to mention the opportunity to hit the post-Christmas sales without watching the clock or the 6 year old tugging at my sweater and whining to go home. Herewith, a working mother’s week of procrastination. I highly recommend it.
Monday, I had intended clean out the kids’ closets and donate old clothes; instead we went to a beach that we had never been to before and took photos.
Tuesday, I actually did accomplish one task on my list: I went to an early movie with my hu6bsand, followed by lunch at a great Italian restaurant. Pasta, scallops, and Pinot Grigio – need I say more?!
Wednesday, I intended to go to a movie by myself; instead I had breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, did some shopping, then skipped the movie, went home, and took a nap. (OK, I did stop by the grocery store on my way home to buy frozen waffles and milk.)
Thursday, I intended to organize last year’s photos and make photo books; instead I went to the mall returned an impulsively-purchased dress for my daughter and bought myself a new sweater – or two.
Today, Friday, I intended to stay home, do laundry and write a blog; instead, I went out to breakfast with my husband, did some more shopping, then spent time with my girls at winter camp, singing and ogling the art projects the kids made this week.
All in all, not a bad week. Am I ready to go back to work? You bet I am, and by the end of this 3 day weekend my kids will be ready to go back to school too. Happy 2012!