Living Simply: Planning Time Off

As you may or may not know, I went back to college this year after raising my family and homeschooling my 3 (now adult) kids. This week is finals week, so I've been busy handing in all the final projects, and studying every day until I finish finals on Monday. What happens after Monday? I have Winter Break. It's 5 weeks. It's 35 days. In the middle of that, there's Christmas, which involves hosting/entertaining family, catching up with friends, doing things I've planned for during that break, lots of cooking and baking, and hopefully getting to do some more stuff that's fun - not JUST what's necessary in the day-to-day. How can I make sure I get in what's important? Get rest before tackling the next semester (where I've added an additional class)? The answer is, I need to be INTENTIONAL. 

To be intentional involves some thought and planning. I don't mean I need to be a slave to a schedule or To Do lists during my "vacation" time. But it does mean to put in the things that serve a purpose, add value to my life and/or others, and be sure I find time to be flexible, restful, at peace. If you have any time off coming up you may want to do the same. It will help you to look back as you start the New Year feeling like you're on track, not coming off the rails. Too many times we take time off only to feel like maybe we wasted it, or shouldn't have taken it off in the first place because now we're full of anxiety from falling behind. Here's what I'm talking about for me. Adjust as needed to fit your own simple living; your own lifestyle and purpose.

1.  Christmas Day - this is the biggest event so it must go into my schedule. There will be 11 of us so I need to plan for the food, beverages, activities, seating, gifts we'll be exchanging, decor (but only what's necessary, not over the top needlessly). We have a beach theme so I've got to break down the menu into baby steps, working backwards:  menu planning, what can be made a day or two in advance, time to cook/bake, grocery shopping, grocery lists, etc. When the day comes, I'll be ready and be able to spend time with everyone - not running around like crazy all stressed out. Also, I purchased tickets for a surprise event all 11 of us can do together, and I'm pretty sure it'll be the first time ANY of us have done it. Can't tell you what it is just yet, but I will after Christmas.

2.  Quest study by Beth Moore - I bought a 6 week study that I've already begun so that by the end of the break, it'll be done. It's something I want to do, for me, and if it turns out really great, I may end up teaching it in my women's small group that I do, or do an additional 6 week study with friends that are interested.

3.  Rest & Fun - I won't necessarily PLAN this on my calendar, but I will keep lots of space open and available. When I want to do something spontaneous, or sleep in, or go to a movie, or meet up with a friend, I'll have the schedule flexibility to do it. I really look forward to sleeping past 7:30. That's my "late, sleep-in" time right now. Hopefully, I can stay in bed til around 8:30 or 9:00 a few times, since the next semester has me out the door by 8:15 five days a week (so up by 7:00 the latest). I am getting older and I do need more rest to have full, long days.

4.  I love to cook, so I want to make time to do more of it during Winter Break. I plan on making Boston Baked Beans, a beef roast with homemade gravy and mashed potatoes, Chicken and Dumplings, and maybe even a cake or two. 

5.  I want to have traditional holiday foods from other places during break. I want Polish Pierogies (also popular in the Ukraine), Mexican Tamales, Italian Cannolis, Scottish Eggs, Canadian Tourtiere (meat pie), Stuffed Cabbage rolls, along with other cuisines I'm anxious to have/cook myself, like something from the Middle East cuisine, German desserts, etc. I absolutely love foods from around the world. 

Here's a few other things that may be on your own list:

1.  Take a drive to somewhere different. If you live in a big city, drive out to the country or the mountains. If you life in a rural area, drive into the city for a day. Take a ride to the beach or ski slopes. 

2.  Take in something new - an opera, a live play, a movie, if you haven't gone to a theater in years, a concert, a ballet, etc.

3.  Pick a day to host friends, or coworkers, or people from an old neighborhood where you used to live, or family, or plan one for each of these. Just enjoy the time with others building new memories.