Monday After Christmas, Continued

It is one of those mornings where the house feels like it is holding its breath.

Twins still asleep. Kelly up, wandering, half awake and half hungry. Coffee is still hot, which feels like a small win. I am on cup three and it is doing the bare minimum, but we will take it.

I have a six hour work call in about an hour. Six hours. From my kitchen. With three kids home. During negative wind chills. If you need a visual, imagine controlled chaos with a side of muted panic and a strong Wi-Fi signal.

Jesus Loves Me is still looping in the background. I have not changed it. It is doing its job. The twins are still sleeping, and I am not about to anger the universe by touching the speaker.

Yesterday was heavy.

Family tension. Misunderstandings. Body language taken wrong. Words that probably did not need to be said but came out anyway. Holidays do that. Everyone is tired. Everyone wants things to feel good. Sometimes they do not.

But we pivoted.

The girls got a short ride in before the wind came ripping through like it had personal beef with our farm. Not long. Not perfect. Just enough. Enough to breathe. Enough to remind us who we are when everything else feels loud.

Then last night, Titanic.

I forgot how much of my childhood lives in that movie. I watched it differently this time. Less starry eyed. More aware of the loss. The urgency. The way everything changes in an instant. It hit deeper than I expected.

So yeah. Yesterday was a full emotional spectrum.

And now here we are. Monday. After Christmas. In that weird space where time does not feel real and yet expectations are already back on the calendar.

Today is laundry. All of it. The endless piles that somehow multiplied over the weekend. Cleaning enough to make the house feel fresh again. Not perfect. Just reset. Enough to say we tried.

I want to get as much work done as possible. Corporate work. Domestic work. All the unseen things that keep everything moving forward. Emails and meetings mixed with socks and dishes. This is the season of multitasking survival.

Outside is ridiculous. Yesterday we were outside in t shirts. Today the wind chill is negative ten. Midwest logic. Three kids inside. Energy everywhere. Snacks every five minutes. Someone will cry. Someone will be bored. Someone will ask what is for lunch approximately fourteen times.

And still, this is okay.

This is life in the middle. Not the highlight reel. Not the meltdown moment. Just the real stuff. Coffee. Music. Work calls. Kids under the same roof. Trying again after a hard day.

If you are feeling behind today, you are not. If your house is loud, messy, emotional, or all of the above, you are not alone. This week is not about doing it all right. It is about easing back in without breaking yourself.

Keep the music on. Keep the coffee coming. Do what you can. Let the rest wait.

We are not late to the new year. We are arriving exactly as we are supposed to.