"Our time to live in the moment, taking guidance from our hearts, our minds, and our bellies".
Working from home is continually rewarding and challenging. Everyday I sanitize the kitchen to make our high quality products in a safe environment, and everyday I clean up from that hoping to avoid the ever-present flavor of soap in our dinners. As much as some days I wish I could just sit on the couch and watch the "Price is Right", I usually end up only getting to glance it from the kitchen. Even with the hustle and bustle this holiday season presented for us at YB Urban?, it's still hard to let it go, but we did! And it was awesome.
Every year since we started our homestead we've taken 2 weeks of vacation from all of our activities except everyday life...the chickens just won't feed themselves. During this time there is no grading for Chris, no labeling for me, no math for Kai, and no tests for Ani. This year was especially blissful once I put my email in vacation mode and got into creating some new holiday traditions and enjoying those we do every year. We decided this year to allow everyone to open one gift each day from the day the kids got out of school until Christmas Eve, when we open the rest of them. This was AWESOME! I can't believe we haven't done it before! What I loved most about this was that we got to enjoy a gift each day individually. The second day Kai got a new board game and we played it together all afternoon while eating the chocolate coins Chris and I both received. That night Ani snuggled up in her new sleeping bag and we all enjoyed the slippers we had opened the day before. By the time Christmas Eve arrived, we had less gifts to open, and had time to focus more on each one. It was really lovely.
It wasn't easy during this time to not think about working, about business. It's a part of us, not just somewhere we go to make money. It's become like glorious clockwork the way all parts of life come together on a homestead and work seamlessly. Certain times of the year, though, it becomes apparent one is taking some precedence over the others. It is then that we intentionally slow down, purposefully live in the moment. No plans, no alarms. Listening only to the belly, the brain, and the heart.