Welcome to the Holiday Season: Take It All In, and Buy Some Shoe Goo

Welcome to the vortex between Halloween and New Year.

Dusk comes more quickly, runny noses flow, school family-involvement activities are at an all-time high, and like the advice given on wedding days, you’d better “take it all in” and make sure to take some pictures.

I was browsing the oddities of the end-of-the-aisle in the pharmacy/self-care area in H-E-B the other day, and I found some considerations. Shoe Goo, individual waxing strips, and a fresh set of shoelaces made it into my shopping cart and then back out of my shopping cart in the span of about ten minutes. I had ideas for each item, but they weren’t what I came for and I needed to stay the course… this is how paper plates get forgotten.

Fast forward to today, and the rubber sole of my favorite cheetah slip-ons started flapping independently from the fabric of the shoe—and that Shoe Goo came to mind!

I could have used it!

This was a particularly strenuous week-and-a-half of “momming.” All of the (fun) business of this holiday season lends itself to plenty of opportunities to pull out my glue gun and decorate a storybook pumpkin as a family project for school or find our craft items to “disguise the turkey.” I’ll never be accused of being a super clean mom, but I am an artsy one. You get what you get, kids! (Ha!)

Yes, the past few weeks have been wonderful (Picture me—as I do—in my fully bloomed craft-mom zone, killing it.) and at the same time, these past few weeks have been stressful. And, knowing myself both historically and currently, I realize I need to tap the breaks a little even when my business is gratifying.

Sometimes I need a load or two of laundry and some quiet, under-stimulating hours, and I always need to make myself get up when my first alarm goes off to spend time before my family is awake, reading my Bible and praying.

When the party gets going, as it has been for me, steady practices ground me. They turn out to be good for me when life is fun, or when life stinks. But, usually, they’re the first things I choose to discard.

Which brings me back to my Shoe Goo.

I should have just kept it in my shopping cart. Then when my cheetah slip-on went to flapping I’d have had the tool for the job (discounting other methods of gluing for the sake of this comparative).

Whilst riding the buzz of challenges met with achievements or flailing in a spiraling nose dive (whichever applies) in the course of these holiday months, go ahead and get the Shoe Goo.

Prepare to temper the highs with preparation and in expectation of mundane or difficult times. And, in the lows and difficulties remind yourself that no hard day lasts forever… even if you have to take the hard things moment by moment.

Welcome to the vortex of the holiday season. I hope your months ahead are lovely!

No matter how they turn out it is good to keep in mind that these moments are fleeting, and they are oftentimes to be cherished.

So, take it all in, and make sure to take some pictures… and buy some Shoe Goo.

Katie
A native to the San Antonio area, Katie was brought up with a healthy respect for the Spurs and carne guisada tacos. Beyont those, she loves her husband, their 3 girls, their family and their church family. Stay-at-home-mom is her job title. Some days it feels mundane, some days overwhelming but the sure thing is that this is important work. Their family hobbies include: overcommitting to too many pets, watching Marvel movies together, epic book-read alouds, eating out, cruising in the car with a good soda and good tunes, and hanging out in the back yard. Just as they consider parenting to be a work of perseverance and unmerited favor, so they also consider their faith in Jesus to be one such work, and the most vital.