Oklahoma City family fun can be a kind of respite.
Halloween is over and these days always feel like a strange blur. My dining room table is piled high with costumes, decorations and trick-or-treat candy, all waiting to be put away or donated. Everything has been too fast, too busy. We attended a public observance of Dia de los muertos last night too, which was amazing and contemplative and cultural; the quality was definitely there but it's been a lot lately, between costumes and class parties to plan for and meetings and book reports.
Time is passing way too fast, which I feel like happens a lot at this stage of life and it's not going to get any slower this season despite the impending time change.
The holiday trifecta is here, with Halloween items on clearance, Thanksgiving food already stocked and Christmas decorations that wink from store shelves.
I just want it all to slow down but the fear of missing out is real, even more than fake Christmas trees and the Santa story.
Turkey trots on Thanksgiving and new art exhibits and so many Christmas-themed activities add to the glory of this time of year. We want to do it all.
The house has to be cleaned, children have homework and we still have to eat dinner every single night but that #fomo keeps us going out. Self-care has to be there too, time to exercise and read and form opinions to be able to vote. That voting part, though, circles around to why I keep everyone going out instead of just focusing on classes instead of community.
My hope is the more my children see and know about, the more they'll care. And the more they will participate as good workers, as great husbands, as citizens who do something about what bothers them. Knowing what to value and how to show we care about it is an important part of childhood that shapes people.
Some aspects of parenting are so much less fun than seeing what's amazing in our city: the to-spank-or-not-to-spank debate, "keep your hands to yourself" lessons, the monotony of brushing teeth sunup and sundown, the daily everything that eclipses our best intentions. The fact that so much of what we're living isn't fit for Instagram is also a great reason to go find what is is, not to show anyone else, but just for ourselves. There is peace in seeing beautiful things beyond your front door.
So my goal this holiday season is to choose peace over time. That's the point of the holidays, supposedly, even as we overcomplicate with meals and gifts. Sometimes, that means turning off the news because it's anxiety-inducing, not forever but for the evening. Other days, it's the choice to stay home and put away clutter that is stressing everyone out, even if it does mean missing out sometimes. Making time to be together outside the house has its place too. If I have to get my groceries delivered and try a meal subscription service to do that, sounds like a good trade-off to me.
When you're ready to enjoy time outside the house, find what to do this season on MetroFamily's website, from where to volunteer to how to celebrate the season.
We're going to Factory Obscura's new BEYOND exhibit on Sunday. The dreamlike qualities of this season all seem to be distilled there and suspended in space for us to look at. I'll report back what we find in next week's blog post.
If November is the preamble to December in terms of preparation for your household's holiday, I hope you take some time for yourself this month as well. Wine is sold in Oklahoma's grocery stores now, so cheers to #selfcare, #fomo and all the other trending hashtags. Set your clocks back and enjoy an extra hour to take it all in before everything starts again.
Make those holidays happy because you are. Happy #Slovember!
