[Pagan]

Back to normal? Is there such a thing? All I know is I desperately need the next 5 days to pass quickly. The Husband has been spending 3 to 4 days a week at his parents, and lately we have been cooking a meal each week to send over. His mother has something going on with her hip and is in extreme pain - has been for the last month or so. They finally got her in for an MRI and she has an appointment on Wednesday to find out why she is in so much pain. With her luck, they will do something about it in June...

The Husband's parents live in a modest 2 bedroom row-house (single story, five-plex). Nice, but not terribly roomy. Their kitchen table seats 4, 5 if you really squish together. So, we are celebrating Christmas over there on Saturday and taking parts of the dinner with us so that she doesn't have to cook. The Husband and his father will do clean-up. Originally, it was going to be 6 of us - a very tight fit all around. Tonight we found out that The Husband's brother is coming and bringing the dog, plus his 2 kids with their dates, and his stepson. Now we are 11 people. I don't even think his mother has 6 chairs. Add the "old people heating", and I am not really looking forward to this. All of our prep so far has been for the smaller group of 6. We ordered the fancy Christmas cake for 8... and now we have 11. Sigh.. I can't wait for Sunday. As The Husband always says, "Everything will be fine."

Adult stuff has to wait until after all this... The Danes have an interesting take on this. They speak of "overskud", or excess. In business it can be great as it usually means profits. In daily life, it means having the willingness, drive, resources, or energy to do something. When you are overtired or stressed, you simply don't have enough overskud to go to that party, deep clean the house, or visiting the family. It has become a nice, non-judgmental way to simply say No. I wish Finns would learn from the Danes....