Leisurely productive

The day after Christmas means begrudgingly going back to work for most. For a high school teacher like me, it means staying home and feeling guilty that my wife has to go back to work. Because our kids stayed at their grandparents last night, I pretty much had the day to myself. How would I spend it?

Would I make it a marathon day on the new Xbox 360 becoming a guitar hero or battling the Lego version of Darth Vader? Or, would I fold the mountain of clean clothes in the laundry room that somehow went neglected over the weekend? Perhaps today would be the day I begin chipping away at that pile of seemingly reproducing school papers and take-home tests that grading? Or maybe I'll just pick up around the house tidy up all the Christmas litter that's been deposited in every corner of every room over a two-day period? Well, I managed to do ALL of these things. So although I didn't go BACK to work, as in the physical locale, I DID get back to work.

I feel pretty proud of myself for finding such and agreeable balance to my leisure time, incorporating enough diversion to the bothersome chores that neither became to discordant. The laundry got completely done. The math grading is now 66.365 percent complete. The house was tidy when the kids got home (although now it has fallen back into its usual disarray), and I even managed to pick up my wife and kids and take them to a nice lunch at a local BBQ place.

I didn't even get tired or frustrated as I picked up the curbside garbage that had blown over and down the street as it waited for the garbage man. Each time (3 total), I packed boxes within boxes, with boxes, trying to make everything more dense and less likely to drift off, and to increase the chances that it would all find its way into the garbage truck. I worried if we had exceeded our garbage "quota" for the week, if such a thing even existed. If every household had as many empty boxes and trashbags full off ripped wrapping paper, the poor, overworked trashmen might have to make a couple of runs just to collect it all. With all the garbage we had, it's amazing I was able to find a proper place for the contents of all the boxes inside the house. We really do spoil our kids these days. I sure hope my son appreciates his Xbox as much as I do!

Yep, I couldn't have expected my day to have been any more productive even if my wife had planned it out for me. Best of all, when she got home, I got her seal of approval, the true measure of my ability not to screw things up. I don't think I'm going to press my luck and go for a second day in a row all on my own tomorrow. I consider myself to be lucky it worked out today. No, instead, I'll just follow the list my wife is making for me right now. I just hope she gives me a longer window to write a blog than I gave myself to write this one.

May the garbage man pick up all your Christmas waste in one trip, may you too find a nook and cranny in your house for all the new things Santa brought you that your kids are already tired of , and good luck taking down and packing up all your decorations.