Over the eight years since we first became parents, I have found December to be the hardest month of the year. Period.
And it’s about this time every year–that is, mid-month–that I start thinking to myself, can’t we just cut December from the calendar?
No. My middle name isn’t Ebenezer or Grinch. I really do love Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas.
It’s just that around mid-December each year a perfect storm hits my kids’ lives. The result isn’t pretty… it’s like each factor compounds with the others and right about now there’s a balloon payment due.
Three months of 8:00-4:00 schools days compounds with…
four-day, multi-hours of nightly homework sessions, and…
Three months of evening activities, some very physical, and…
Weakened immune system from sickness, and…
Short, frigid days with little sunlight, and…
Simmering excitement about a visit from St. Nick, and…
You get the picture. The most wonderful time of the year, it isn’t.
Perhaps other parents understand what I’m talking about. Perhaps we’re the only family who experiences this.
Either way–if you’re the praying sort, say a prayer for families bowing under the weight of, well, life.
Jeff Gissing 