So. We left for Disney World the Monday after Thanksgiving and we got back home this past Sunday.

I am just now getting around to blogging. And it’s Wednesday.

I’ve learned that it takes me three full days to unpack, do laundry, fold laundry, put laundry away, restore suitcases to their storage locations, figure out what do with souvenirs, and attempt to re-acclimate to real life after a one-week vacation.

And oh, by the way, Christmas is only 2.5 weeks away.

When planning our trip to Disney World, I took only a few things into consideration:

• Impact on kids’ school — particularly C and his homework.
• Crowd levels at Disney World.

Originally, we were going to go over Christmas vacation, making schoolwork a non-issue. But then some friends told me that we would spend our entire vacation standing in line, and well, that didn’t sound like any fun. So I had to get more creative.

I read that the week after Thanksgiving week usually sees a significant drop in Disney crowds. That sounded good. And then I realized that C could spend all of Thanksgiving break doing his homework ahead of time, and then just skip school for a week to enjoy sunshine, rides, and relaxation.  He thought it sounded like a good plan, I thought it sounded like a good plan…and so we went with it.

[I know some people think taking your kid out of school for a week to go on vacation is a bad idea. I'm sometimes one of those people. But sometimes I'm not. And since I ran the plan by C's teachers and they didn't have a problem with it, and since we do not make a habit of skipping weeks of school, I figured it would be worth it and not a horrible thing.]

Our trip was wonderful. I may blog more about it in future posts, and if you have any questions about planning or executing a Disney World vacation, please feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer (even though I’m certainly not an expert).

L loved meeting all the characters, especially Mickey.

C liked the different attractions at the parks — the rides, the countries in Epcot, etc.

And Chad and I had lots of fun ourselves, while also enjoying the happiness our kids were experiencing.

:::

But one thing I didn’t really think about when planning our trip was how I would feel when we returned home with less than three weeks until Christmas.

The answer, I think, is “overwhelmed.”

There are parties to attend; gifts to purchase; gifts to wrap; a house to decorate; baked goods to, er, bake; school programs to attend; family members to host; and a whole lot of miscellaneous things to accomplish in the next couple weeks.

Frankly, I don’t see it all happening. But I’ve decided I’ll do what I can and let the rest go. I might not do tons of baking this year. We might not be sending out Christmas cards (just this one time). But I’m determined to not stress about it.

If I feel the stress creeping up, I’ll just turn up the volume of the Christmas music, or retreat to my bedroom to read today’s reading in Immanuel.