Thursday, December 25, 2008

The Twelve Days of Christmas-Introvert Style: Day Twelve

On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me
Twelve guests a-leaving
Batteries re-charging
One well a-filling
No public speaking
Close friends connecting
Plenty time for napping
Six hours a-plotting
One emp-ty house
Four ear plugs
Three note books
Two soothing drinks
And a nice quiet place to just be…


It’s over! You’ve done it! You’ve survived another holiday season—hopefully with your sanity in tact and not feeling like a wrung out dishrag by the end. Your friends and family have feasted, the perfect presents exchanged, and just enough snatched moments here and there that you remember why the holidays are such a magical time, even when you’re not a child.

One of the times I love most is the dead zone between Christmas and New Years. When I was a kid, Dec. 26 was the saddest day of the year. Not so much any more. It seems as if life kind of stops—or at least slows down. It’s a fallow, fertile time when we’ve just capped the year with a celebration and have yet to start the new year with all its resolutions, plans, and intentions. It’s a time for dreaming, reflecting, of reviewing and savoring. If you haven’t had a chance to refill your well or recharge your batteries, grab some time now, while everyone is in this lulled state.

And in order to dream big for next year, today's winner will receive a very cool, very writerly/readerly PaperBlanks 2009 purse size dayplanner! (It's the one on the bottom with all the writing on it.) And the final winner is--Number 20! Jenn Robinson! When you get a chance, Jenn, send me an email and I'll make my final trip to the post office. :-)

Thank you all so much for participating in the Introverted Writer's Twelve Days of Christmas! It's been so much fun. And thank you all for being a part of the Shrinking Violet community. We look forward to an inspiring, well-filling, battery-charging, 2009! (With maybe a teensy dash of public speaking thrown in.)

See you all next year!

Robin and Mary

12 comments:

Yat-Yee said...

Robin and Mary:
Thanks for providing all the goodies to us and for the helpful list that will help us navigate Christmas but other stressful times as well.

Happy Dead Zone, Robin, and everyone else who relishes this slowed-down and contemplative time.

Yat-Yee said...

I meant "and" other stressful times...

caryl said...

Yes! I never put it into words, but you're right, those days between Christmas and New Years feel like "bonus" days- very quiet, very relaxed.

A good time for slow walks, long baths and soul-tickling daydreams. In fact, I'm gonna go right now and take a slow, day-dreamy walk in my bathtub.

Mary Hershey said...

We DID it! Hurrah! Fa-la-LAAAA!

Thanks, Robin, for your marvelous composition, and to all the IVs out there-- here's to a simply swell Dec 26th! Maybe we should claim it as National Introverts Day.

**|||:-]
Mary

Julie Kibler said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Julie Kibler said...

You were pretty close to right on with this one. We had ten guests in addition to the six of us that live in my house for turkey AND ham and all the other fixin's. I made the comment at several points that I'm taking a break from doing the traditional Christmas dinner next year, but who knows what'll happen after I have a year to recover!

I'm definitely going to enjoy this week of no alarm clocks, lots of leftovers, a million movies, and simply hanging out.

Anonymous said...

Love your blog!

Corey Schwartz said...

Oh, I seem to feel the opposite way. I am counting the hours till 9:00 AM on Jan 5th when I can drop my two preschoolers off and finally have the house back to myself!

R.L. LaFevers said...

Well yeah, Corey. If I had younguns still at home under my feet, I'd be filling exactly the same way. Preschoolers change everything!!

R.L. LaFevers said...

Er, feeling exactly the same way! Sheesh!

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to drop a line and thank you both again for the lavender candle and bath salts. I wish everyone could have seen the expression on my face when I walked down to the mailbox the day they arrived. I had forgotten all winning them so about ten feet shy of the street – I smelled something glorious . . .

I have them sitting in the main bathroom of my house until I leave for my next conference, then they will be packed for me, me, me! HA!

Happy New Year!

Kimberly

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I enjoy all your posts. You are the recipient of the Premio Dardos Award. See my blog for details.

Jane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/