Filling up the calendar

It's that time of year again, when everything suddenly becomes very busy. I'm lucky to have friends across several different circles, and it's always nice to get a few people together for a Christmas meal or catch up. It's also a very busy time at school with lots going on. Especially this year because the children break up on the 15th December - a full ten days before Christmas - so there is plenty to be crammed in. It also means that the children are completely hyped up for Christmas, and then have over a week waiting around at home getting impatient!

I've managed to get most things scheduled in now, but there are still a few dates that we are trying to get sorted. I always get a bit anxious planning things far in advance, I worry that I'm going to end up double booked somehow, or forget about the regular activities like swimming lessons in my excitement to find a date that is free. But it does feel good to have everything scheduled in and to know what needs to be done and when.

I have stressful memories last year of 'bad week', the second week of December when everything seemed to collide all at once, coinciding with Ram spending the week travelling up and down the country. It looks as though we are headed for similar this year, with that week being a blur of Nativity plays, a swimming gala, carol service and several nights out. I'm trying to prepare better mentally this year, and at least now that the children are settled into the school the activities are a bit more familiar.

I am generally an organised person and I'm usually on top of things. We both have a Google calendar which is shared across our devices, although unfortunately the syncing can sometimes be a bit hit and miss, and it also doesn't link to the work calendar. At the beginning of the week I copy over our week's activities to the week to view calendar so we can all see what we are up to. It doesn't always help though - twice so far this term I've had to trek back to school with a forgotten swimming kit!

I'll be quite glad when this winter term has finished, although I am very much looking forward to all the lovely festive activities. I'm just hoping that we can have a bit of time to relax at home before the big day itself!

Photo credit Eric Rothermel via Unsplash