Don’t Forget to Breathe

Flickr Photo by The Spacebase

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Yes, I’ve caught myself reminding myself to breathe lately. Literally. When I set out to join the cast of our church’s Christmas production, The Story, I really wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing. I thought I was because I was on the tech crew last year, but being on stage is really another matter completely.

Reality is, we all get caught up in things this time of year, especially moms. Whether it’s classroom parties, progressive dinners, shopping, cooking, cleaning… there is much to be done. There is also quite a bit that can be left undone, or at the very least delegated. One of the benefits of participating in this large scale production is that I truly have to consider how important things are, who can do them, and when they can be done. There’s a fair amount left on the “not now” plate. I’m learning to be okay with that. I haven’t conquered my laundry in at least 6 weeks. And my definition of “conquering” is having less than 2 loads floating around. Yep, that’s how I roll these days. I have dead plants too, that should tell you something. But everyone has food to eat, a place to sleep, homework is done and we all have clean clothes to wear, even if they aren’t the exact ones we wanted. Surprisingly, everyone is happier than normal, which I’m sure has nothing to do with the Christmas tree they can’t keep their tiny little hands off of.

Our show starts this weekend, so if you are in the St. Louis area, click on this link & find a time to come. It’s truly unlike any nativity or Christmas show you’ve ever seen. If you happened to catch last year’s debut, don’t skip it just because you think it’s the same. There are some changes that really & truly set it even further apart from the traditional story we hear each December. Which I love, because it’s very thought provoking.

For my regular readers not in the Show Me State, I’ll share with you some of my survival tips over the coming days. Maybe you’ve heard them before, maybe not, but I hope you’ll learn something new.