The Lazy Days of Christmas

"Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy." - Milan Kundera

By the time I get to Christmas night, I've normally hit the wall of fatigue.  And after eating an enormous turkey dinner, it is all I can do to keep my eyes open long enough to undress and tumble into bed.  But a long, deep sleep was to be elusive for me this Christmas night.  Merv left for England  on the red-eye flight after our Christmas dinner.  It was his brother, Eric's, 60th birthday on Boxing Day and Merv wanted to surprise him. I normally don't fret about Merv travelling but on Christmas night, I could do little else.  Sleep didn't come until after 6 A.M. when I received his text to tell me he had arrived in London.  I managed to sleep for a couple of hours and then got up to fret about the four hour drive I knew he was making on the wrong side of the road after his own sleepless night.  I was overwhelmed with relief when he called with the news he was with his brother.

So it was with heavy eyes that I headed out to see a movie with Jacob on Boxing Day afternoon.  It has been our tradition since Jacob was little, to see a movie on Boxing Day as it was my family's tradition when I was small.  It felt a bit strange to be going without Merv.  After some discussion and some negotiation, we finally settled on seeing Life of Pi.  I wanted to see Guilt Trip, thinking it would be amusing to see a film about a mother and son road trip with my son.  But Jacob was truly not interested.  Likewise, he didn't want to see Les Miserables and he had already seen Argo.  I read Life of Pi many years ago and I remember the story well.  The reviews of the movie have been excellent but I knew it would be intense and it certainly was.  After seeing it, I wasn't at all sure I wouldn't be facing another sleepless night.  But we stopped at Cath's for turkey leftovers and by 11 o'clock I could hardly keep my eyes open.  I exchanged a couple of texts with Merv and slept like a stone until 7. 

The house looks like it has been hit by a bomb.  The dishes are all clean but my Christmas china needs to be boxed and stored away until next year.  The whole house needs a thorough vacuuming and the kitchen floor needs to be washed.  And yet today, I have been lazy, barely doing the minimum of housework.  We ordered Chinese food for dinner. Tonight we will watch movies and talk.  The mess can wait another day.  I'd rather take the time tonight to enjoy the companionship of my wonderful son on this lazy post-Christmas day.