Best part of my week? Making pancakes for my children while we were still in pyjamas at 10 am. Having time to eat the pancakes (with three different toppings) and not even getting mad or flustered when one of my kids tipped over the entire canister of sugar all over the kitchen bench.
I had time to do the dishes and even put them away. My plates usually drip dry and I probably stunned the entire family as I hummed away to Cat Stevens and just felt all ‘nesty’. Okay. Nesty is probably not a word, but it should be. You know that feeling you get when you are just glad to be home fussing and clucking and doing normal things like washing and cooking dinner?
I don’t know about you, but sometimes my soul is so battered from my busy life, all I need is a dose of nesting to feel planted again. And I love the school holidays because I have more time to do the simple things with my beautiful kids and feel like I am not failing at this adulating gig.
It has become cool to criticise the kids being home during holidays and to whinge about the juggle and the effort to entertain kids. But not this little mother hen. I have always loved the change of routine the holidays bring to our clan. I love having my babies back home.
I love holiday me. Holiday me has time to cook a proper breakfast. Holiday me throws together meals for the slow cooker and feels like Nigella Lawson all day as the house fills up with amazing smells of corned beef and apricot chicken bubbling away.
Holiday me takes time to collect the mail from the letterbox with the kids. Holiday me plants succulents with the kids. Holiday me has caught up on the folding and ironing. Holiday me lights candles to make the home cosier. Holiday me even makes the kids’ beds happily. Holiday me has taken the kids to the library. Holiday me has sat and watched DVDs with the kids. I have so much more time without the school drop-off and without the extracurricular activities and I am way less of a banshee in the holidays.
I recently caught up with a friend who is a financial planner, and he told me 90 per cent of his elderly clients tell him their biggest regret is not spending more time with the kids. I know some of you are rolling your eyes, as the kids send you bonkers.
So I hope holiday you has been thriving too and making little memories for you and your kids along the way. And do not start thinking I am a changed woman forever, as when school returns next week, the beds will not be made until school holidays and my little bubble will be burst.
