Holidays are all about a change in routine, a change in mindset, and a change in our approach to life.
And surprisingly, I find I even enjoy cooking meals with love and – yes – doing the dishes afterward! Yep, no dishwasher: just me and some soapy suds and some ‘alone’ time. Although usually there is one adolescent at the other end of the tea towel. And that’s nice too.
I love the feeling of nurturing my kids with food that’s been cooked with love, served with love, and enjoyed together.
I’m past daily baking and filling the tins from my earlier stage of motherhood. However, when we get close to holidays I’m all in with the tin filling and making all the old favourites to enjoy while we’re camping. And we plan and cook pretty lavish dinners too, considering we’re just using a portable bbq and a gas burner.
Our normal day-to-day routines are pleasantly changed, and what we’re looking for is the connection that arrives when we’re not busy. The relaxed, easy connection that comes when you have unhurried time together. A connection that grows over ice cream at the local store and a slow walk along the beach. Time to cook together, create together and have a game together. And time to pursue solitary activities like reading while you’re hanging out with the people you love.
The kids and I reminisce about holidays – we fondly remember the times spent swimming in a knee-deep lagoon, playing invented games on the beach, and making friends with the other kids in the camp as they took turns on the rope swing, went shell collecting, got ‘lost’ in the bush, made huts and roasted marshmallows on a fire.
Those very memories are often referred back to during our evening chats as we reminisce about the mini adventures our kids had while they were young. These memories, I wouldn’t swap them for anything.
They are the jewels that shine brightly well after the small inconveniences of a holiday are forgotten.
Change doesn’t have to be hard. Holidays are proof of that.
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