On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... the sanity of doing whatever I want. As the holidays draw near Germans are seasonably off work. Many will be forced out due to the other C-word but my husband is typically off two to three weeks during this time of year. He traditionally returns back well into the New Year. Unfortunately, for me this is the equivalent of having some 40-something old child on suspension from school. I have to cater to this person, feed him three meals and snacks and deal with the occasional spur of needing to DIY something as the rest of the year didn't suffice. Americans just do not get this much time off work and I worked a lot in retail so I was working every single day, doubles, triples and clopens (closing a store just to open again the next day) during the holidays. Germans get way too many paid holidays to begin with and I personally feel my husband is home more than he is ever at his desk. But oh how Germans claim to work so hard and deserve their time away and endless vacations. For now it is more or less staycation sans flights, dinners and shopping. All we have is each other. And on the weekends while we try to reserve one day for relaxation I am normally stressed to get the shopping done, do laundry before blessed Sonntag or cook some elaborate meal before "Tatort" begins. I find myself rushing to meet his needs to get everything done. I am exhausted from a week of doing nothing and then having to stand at attention for store openings, markt times and the FOMO of all the other Germans doing the exact same at the same exact time. I hate the pushy, shove-y, mad hatter effect of everyone trying to get to Lidl by 6:59am. This is the German version of relaxation - being early, getting the worm and injuring someone while doing it. I am ofter the one being pushed and shoved. So to have this man revel in the feeling of being off work, make his own frozen pizza for "brunch" and even have the nerve to take a random 13:00 nap I am relieved. I told him I wanted to lay on the sofa surrounded by pillows and pets. And to my surprise that happy bastard told me I could. I opted instead for a long soak in the tub, a face mask and a squat down here in front of the laptop to blurb my bath time thoughts.
Ach so, Comfort and Joy.
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