How the holidays turned out in the end...

A family portrait at the river near our home.

Back here I wrote about our "away" holiday before Christmas. After we got back, we still had 10 days left of school holidays to spend at home. I was a bit down after the "away" part of our holiday, but I have to tell you that things improved after that. Perhaps it was related to boys settling down after Christmas. It might also have something to do with us all struggling to adjust to a non-school schedule and the inevitable clash between adults wanting to laze and boys needing to keep moving and get the energy out.

After Christmas we hung around home a lot. Soon after Christmas it there was a lot of excitement about Lego. We also tried to get the boys out most days for a ride or walk or trip to a nearby park. We enjoyed several movie afternoons with: How to Train a Dragon, Narnia, Clone Wars and Oliver Twist (the modern version).

By New Year's Eve, however, my husband was feeling a bit depressed about the boys (I think there was some element of depression about Australia's cricketing failures too). He was having trouble enjoying them. But things did improve from there. Particularly as we picked up on the board-game front. 

On Monday of this week I wrote about our visit with friends where we played board games all afternoon. On Tuesday the boys played hard outside in the morning and then we played Monopoly for a couple of hours. 

It is great that they are now at an age where we can do this, especially as it is something that both my husband and the boys enjoy (if a little too competitive at times). The two older ones are currently obsessed not only with Monopoly but with Boggle Slam. And I taught my youngest a Solitaire form of Happy Families. It is a challenge to find activities that span the six year age span. Our youngest is on the verge of being able to play word games, but at this point will be beaten every time by his biggest brother with his huge vocabulary.

Now my sons are planning a games afternoon for Saturday. I'm hoping that we'll be able to have some form of "Happy Families" ourselves. I hate it when it feels like we're just coping as a family. When there is little joy and we're always having to put a dampener on proceedings.

Sometimes I think I could say with Job: "My days are swifter than a runner;
   they fly away without a glimpse of joy." (Job 9:25 NIV) 

Maybe it is partly this problem:

"The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him." (Prov 23:24 NIV) Logically speaking - not-wise sons produce sorrow.

So this year I'm praying God will: "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." (Ps 90:14 NIV)

And help me to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2-3 NIV)