Nothing is more exhausting than taking a break from all one’s regular duties, unless it be resuming those duties after the break. School, routines, menu planning, writing, laundry, kitchen maintenance, essentially every part of our lives (with the exception of the small Pickwickian bedtime, which reigns supreme, even over the twelve days of Christmas) has taken a long hiatus over the preparation, celebration, and recovery from the holidays.

I have a holiday menu system in place. Fr Pickwick is not picky, and only insists that we eat bacon at least once every day after Christmas until the twelve days are over, or the local store runs out of peppered bacon- in which case an official crisis state is declared. Aside from the bacon, I rely heavily on leftovers and providence (often in the form of Fr Pickwick being suddenly inspired to pick up frozen pizza on his way home). An enormous Christmas ham can be used in a variety of ways until everyone is tired of ham, and then I disguise the rest into split pea soup. I also purchased dozens and dozens of eggs before Christmas and looked at dozens and dozens of beautiful cookie recipes and then just made a lot of scrambled eggs. More than once I forgot about dinner plans elsewhere, and remembering after lunch that I did not actually have to cook dinner certainly felt like divine intervention.

I have similar holiday systems in place for the rest of the household tasks. I scrupulously ignore the laundry, and the kitchen. And the lovely feeling of two whole weeks without school! The only unfortunate part about the lack of routine is that when not being educated, small Pickwicks have a tendency to be hungrier, messier, and much, much, much busier. A child trying to evade math can be extremely quiet elsewhere for most of the morning. A child on break has nothing to fear braving the kitchen and can ask all those questions she’s been saving for months…

But, alas, all holidays must come to an end, else they would not be holidays- they would just be bedlam. It is extremely important to ease one’s household gently through the first week of reality. I have compiled a list of the Official Pickwickian Method for starting the new semester off just right:

1. Break the news Monday morning (or afternoon, depending on how long it took to find all the educational materials) that school will begin again tenderly. You are most likely addressing someone dressed as a fairy, who has lived as a fairy for two weeks without intermission, sincerely believes herself to actually be a fairy, and will be heartbroken at the idea that math facts are a part of her life again. Drooping wings and lethargic skipping are sure signs of woe. Hot cocoa should probably be served during the traumatic school work as consolation.
2. Appliances, like children, are also sensitive during this time of transition. Washers and dryers are especially known to be predisposed to despondency. Have a little pep talk first and assure the team that they are not expected to do All The Piles today. In fact, it is unwise to even attempt one on the first day. Especially if you can’t actually wade into the laundry room. If that is the case, just call through the door to let them know you are thinking of starting tomorrow.
3. If Tuesday’s weather means a snow day for the local schools, by all means give the children the day off. They did almost work hard yesterday and you certainly don’t want them to feel left out.
4. On Wednesday, suddenly remember that the Christmas tree needs to be taken down. Start at once, watch the fairies quietly disappear from their school work, and then spend the rest of the day chasing the baby and trying to find where she put the last of the ornaments.
5. If Thursday’s weather looks like a miraculously early spring and the children are tempted outside into the balmy 50º without their coats and before breakfast, by all means give them the day off. How many days are so beautiful in January, and isn’t this the beauty of home education- freedom from the local school’s rigid schedule?
6. Make a lot of resolutions to really get to work on Friday. However, if you decide to make a field trip to the doctor’s office because one of the fairies has an infected lymph node (perhaps math would have been safer than the false spring), that is really just as educationally valuable as the worksheets would have been. Especially if it is during an ice storm. That is the best time for such field trips.
7. Wait, wasn’t there some laundry to do? You’ll just have to give that another go on Monday.