Dickinson Staycation

I hope you all enjoyed your 3 day President's Day weekend. How did you celebrate the various leaders of our great nation?
Did you let the dancing presidents on TV lead you to a sale on furniture?
Did you follow the dollar signs to the nearest car lot?
We decided to mark this year with a somewhat different approach. We created a new family event wherein we put our credit cards firmly back into our wallets. And stayed home. For 3 entire days.

We started this event with a trip to the library where we loaded up on movies, ensuring that the two main audiences in our household: rom-com watchers & cartoon addicts, had their own stack of Must See TV ready to go. Then we headed home and let the Staycation begin.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to spend these days on an abbreviated, individualized schedule. We got up whenever we wanted in the morning, which meant we were the family still in our jammies at 11:30, thank you very much. We ate whatever we wanted for breakfast, even pizza, cause that's just how we roll around here, at least when we're staycationing, that is. And the daylight hours were spent however we pleased: TV shows, movies, reading, writing, playing video games, cooking, baking, or crafting. To each his or her own.

Meals were ad hoc and created from whatever items could be foraged from the pantry, and usually involved one or more cans of things. And mismatched quantities of things long frozen and forgotten in the chest freezer. (We had bagel dogs in there, waaaaayyy down at the bottom. Who knew?)

One afternoon all four of us were in dire need of cinnamon swirl bread. Going out to the store would require putting on Real Pants (non-yoga or sweat pants, to you non-staycationers), which are not allowed on a staycation. (Nor are Real Shoes. That is why God made slippers). So to solve the problem I made a loaf of it myself. Incidentally, this made me feel all Pioneer, and really quite pleased with myself. (Until I somehow managed to eat a full one-forth of said cinnamon bread, thus knocking my self-opinion down a few notches, bringing it closer to shame).

But I digress.

The best part was that we had 3 full days to spend as a family, holed up watching documentaries and science shows in the family room, and having picnic meals wherever we felt like eating around the house. Living Room Luncheon, anyone? But this new family tradition also gave me the chance to spend a lot of time with Dan while the girls were upstairs watching Bambi for the nine-hundredth time. It was truly a remarkable thing, indeed.

Today is our first day back in Real Time, traveling through the day on a set schedule with set protocols. (Real Pants. Real Shoes). But we're already planning the next Dickinson Recluse Staycation in earnest, eager to hide away for a few days and just be a family. It's odd how precious that feels, that desire to cling together sometimes. The world is forever trying to break in and tell us what is important, how to spend our time, how to feel about this, that, and the other; sometimes it essential to huddle in your group and just be together, uninterrupted, for awhile. To get back to the roots of who you are and who you are in your family. These years when the girls are young are fleeting, I know. Dan and I are making the conscious effort to grab every second of their childhoods, hold it close, and savor every millisecond of it. And we're trying our darnedest to make sure we're accomplishing that goal together, as a family.