12 Things I Will Do While I Miss My Children This Christmas

I will have my children for Christmas Day, but I will miss them for most of the Christmas season while they are visiting their father. Because he lives so far away, I know there is no chance to run into them somewhere or see them at a family outing or town celebration.

I don’t want to sit home and mope about what should have been or harbor resentment toward anyone in this season of love and faith. This Christmas season is one to celebrate. Here are some things I plan to do to combat the sadness I will feel when I miss my children this Christmas:

1. Clean the house and garage – Okay, not the most exciting start, but a day of cleaning at the beginning of the break will help me relax later. Also, if I can get the garage cleaned, Troy can set up that old weight bench he’s been wanting to work on. That will make him happy, and that will make me happy!
2. Organize overwhelming piles of paperwork – I have paperwork coming out my ears and never quite enough time to get it all sorted and filed. Now, I will have a few days to sort my two or three big piles into countless small piles all over the living room floor and no little tornado will run through them.
3. Set up a budget – I used the dirty B-word here, but I have gotten into a terrible habit of living in financial randomness. Single moms can never afford to live randomly, and I need to get on track now and see if I can live on an even more limited income. If I can, any extra that I am currently making (Did I say that with a straight face? 😉 ) will go into savings for a new car. It will be a relief if I can get even a little tucked away.
4. Get a jump on my taxes – Yep, I know what you’re thinking, “Wow! She’s a hoot around the holidays!” Again, starting the new year off right financially will help the whole family feel less stress in the long term.
5. Get my weight loss/physical fitness plan together – Finally something for just me! Starting to workout and get in shape before Christmas would have been like sticking to a strict budget before Christmas. I know myself, and I know I like to see my progress. I love charts and graphs so I will develop bar graphs and line graphs and pie charts and written goals and more to help me get in shape in 2014. Over the next few months I will have a great time coloring in those lines and graphs and figuring out what percent of my goal I’ve accomplished each day. This is where the math teacher in me shows and where my readers are thinking – GEEK! I know there are apps that will track all that for you, but I also live in fear of some app accidentally shooting all my vital statistics to Facebook or some other social media network. I’dll just keep a paper file in my bedroom.
6. Volunteer – A former student called to ask for help for an upcoming state test. She does not have a lot of money and my tutoring services are expensive so I will help her free of charge and ask that someday she help someone else. I know she will. Pass it on! 
7. Go out with friends – Other single friends will also be missing their children this break. Rather than sit around and mourn the deaths of our families individually, I will organize an event where celebrate our new found strength and faith and rebirth, as singles, together.
8. Take a long, hot bubble bath – I will for once sit in a clean tub. I will remove all the race cars, old shampoo bottles, and Darth Vaders from our bathtub (I have boys – no cute rubber duckies in my tub!). I will fill the tub with steaming water that will turn my skin pink. I will light the small room with candles and inhale the scented oils I add to the water. I may bring a novel in, or I may just sit with absolutely nothing to do.
9. Read a book – I will read a book I want to read, not a professional book or a book with lots of pictures and sticky pages. Enough said! 🙂
10. I will get a mani/pedi – Going to a salon is not in my new budget, (It wasn’t in my old budget either!) but I can pamper myself at home. I will pick out some of my louder colors or some softly subdued tones. I may even try my own nail art. I will have time to redo any mess ups.
11. I will go to Reconciliation and spend time with my Lord and Savior – I will ask the Lord to forgive me for the sins I have committed and not live in fear of them because I know God will stand by me when I ask Him to. I will start anew and vow to not make those same mistakes again. I will remember how blessed we are to worship as we want here. I will pray for those protecting our freedoms and for the families who miss them. I will read my Bible and say my Rosary while contemplating the mysteries Jesus presents. I will learn more about Him and appreciate who I am because He thinks enough of me even when no one else, myself included, thinks I am worth much. I will be grateful and loving and hopeful and grow in His wisdom.
12. I will sleep late and awaken to the smell of coffee brewing in a warm house, stretching slowly, lazily. I will rise and rejoice in each day the Lord has made and given to me.

These are the some of the things I will do without my children this Christmas season. How will you pass your time? Let me know!

God Bless…