Recovery

I need a nap. It's not because I've had the requisite 3.7 pounds of turkey, with all the sides: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, several vegetables of various colours and shapes and as much dessert as I could fit in afterwards.

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It's also not because I had to stay up until 3:00 am to put together a doll house or tricycle - the kids are all old enough to want smartphones and money now, which has saved me a lot of grief over the last few years…besides, my darling wife and I woke up well before the kids on Christmas Day. Go figure.

No, I think I need to have a snooze to try and rest up from all the aftershocks of this Christmas/New Year season. Being an independent contractor means having to take as many jobs as possible. If you don't, then one day you'll finish up a project and realize there will be too much month at the end of the money, so I was working until the very last minute.

There's also the adrenaline shock that every good male in the country has when he realizes that there is only two or three days before Christmas and he doesn't have a gift for his better half. And no, the windshield de-icer or extension cord from the corner gas station does not count as an appropriate gift. This much, I've learned.

Couple that with all the added joy of Christmas shopping for everyone else in your family (thank you, my darling wife for doing mine), putting up lights (thank you, my darling daughter - had 'em done when I got home one day!!), shovelling sidewalks during the deep freeze (thanks, boys! Nice try, waiting for a Chinook) and working right up to Christmas Eve, it makes a guy tired!

Then there are the after Christmas duties - Boxing Day sales (thank goodness I spent all my money before Christmas), the big family get-together (can't wait!) and getting prepared for New Year's Eve! Even if that means just cleaning the laundry after the family get-together. We can be a raucous bunch.

Don't forget the dishes. Mounds and mounds of dishes, some of which I've never seen before and probably won’t see ever again. It seems like every dish in the house is used for the holiday meals. What's worse is some of them can't, or won't, fit in the dishwasher.

I can fit an entire bachelor apartment into the back of my van, with some clever planning and a modicum of carefully applied pressure. Apparently, this is against the house rules with a dishwasher. I'm pretty sure I can get twice as many dishes into the washer but every time I try, I don't even get a chance to see if the door closes before my wife makes me take three or fifteen dishes out. And using the clothes washing machine is definitely verboten. Even if it's a front loader.

I'm not even taking into account the New Year's resolutions I had to make up and promptly break on January 2^nd. It's hard for me to think up great resolutions that I can ignore almost immediately. I've used up all the easy ones, like exercising more and eating healthier. Those go out the window on December 25^th and January 1^st respectively. They tell me it's time to make real resolutions, ones that you can keep.

That's why I need a nap. One, I have to regain some energy to make the resolutions that work. Two, I have to try and catch up on the sleep I'm losing trying to make these resolutions. Three, well, I like naps. I think I'll have to build a New Year's resolution for that. That way I know I can keep at least one…