We did 3 things these past holidays:
Was it tiring? Yes it was. Was it fulfilling? No doubt. This was probably one of their happiest month ever.
- We visited Chinelle's family for Christmas
- We took the kids to the beach multiple times
- We went on motorbike rides
We didn't get to do many things that we wanted to do and needed to do, but these 3 we did well.
CAMERON CHRISTMAS
Our annual rhythm for Christmas is to have one year with my family (Joburg) then the next year with Chinelle's (Onrus, Hermanus) and this year was Onrus time. We spent just over a week together.
Our objective was simple: be present. That's what we did in order to make the visit count and to get some rest. For me one of the things it meant was to not be physically present with one group of people while digitally also fully present somewhere else.
It's actually more a case of: 2018 was so intense for us that it left us with such little energy we could only do one group of people the whole holidays.
It's actually more a case of: 2018 was so intense for us that it left us with such little energy we could only do one group of people the whole holidays.
BEACH TIME
These holidays everyday was play day with the boys. We played so much that I had Leo (now 4) exclaim a few times "I'm tired now, I want to go upstairs". That's when I knew that "ya, we are playing!"
Every play time was extended for a long time, every game was repeated a 100 times and if we went to the beach we played and swam until they were tired not when we got tired.
Was it tiring? Yes it was. Was it fulfilling? No doubt. This was probably one of their happiest month ever.
My earliest life memories are when I was 3 years old and I'm determined that their earliest memories are of mom and dad present in their lives and enjoying them.
We are generally present in their lives but it was also a tough year and this December I was like: "boys, we are going to have fun. You wanna go to the beach again even though we went yesterday? Yes, let's go!"
We are generally present in their lives but it was also a tough year and this December I was like: "boys, we are going to have fun. You wanna go to the beach again even though we went yesterday? Yes, let's go!"
BIKE RIDES
Motorbike rides for us is code for "quality time". This is one way we connect - we find a random gravel route on the maps and head out. We use some rides to go have the "how are you doing? What's on your heart? How are we doing?" chats away from home.
While in Onrus, we looked for gaps when the kids took naps to head out even if it was for 30 min.
So we didn't do much else and didn't connect with people we desperately wanted to but grateful to have done these 3 things well.
Our hope is to continue with these rhythms even during the year:
- Be present with people
- Prioritise family fun
- Prioritise us and keep marriage an adventure
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