Slightly happier...

It's so lovely to be looking ahead to the rest of this month with excitement and anticipation, rather than dread and apprehension. Mathew's birthday is all planned and prepared - he's having a 'party' at a soft-play venue on the day itself, with several chums from school, so we don't have to worry about hosting a mad, destructive do at our house - and the schedule for 24th to 28th December has been pretty much laid out and locked in by my wife and sisters, so there's nothing for me to worry about there.
It's all good really.
I've relaxed now about this weekend, and the other Family Festive Fun days that we're doing at work. It's all sorted and everyone knows what they're doing, and they're all looking forward to it, and I'm confident it'll all work well, so I can just get on with it now and stop having elevated anxiety levels while thinking about it.  Easier said than done, of course, but I'm doing my best.

I don't seem to be the only person who has been a bit 'stressy' recently either. I think I posted about this already, but a lot of people seem to be a bit more wound up about the holiday season than they used to be. It may just be the constant negativity that we're force-fed by the media impacting on everyone's ability to enjoy themselves, but there does seem to be a general malaise about the general populace as we enter the end days of 2023. I don't like it. I guess I'm so used to spending time with people who are on their vacation and determined to make the best of it, that it depresses me when I have to deal with normality and reality. I suppose I have always liked my ability to escape from the world by surrounding myself with my own happy thoughts while isolating, and it's not so easy to do that when you're a manager at a busy caravan site and a father to two young boys.
So, in conclusion... well, I have no conclusion really, I am just rambling (as I do so often).

RC 15-12-23