Tootling around town this weekend, J and I saw a banner for a drive-through nativity. We couldn’t resist!
Is there anything more American than the drive-through concept? I drive through to get coffee, medicine, even dry-cleaning! I arrived in the U.S. too late to catch a drive-through movie, but I felt compelled to take advantage of the drive-through nativity.
It was lovely. There were ten or so scenes telling the story of Jesus, all the way from the Angel Gabriel to the rolling away of the stone. Each scene was narrated via a loaned in-car CD (or cassette in our old car) and featured live actors and an assortment of stuffed animals and baby dolls. There were wise men in tennis shoes and pint-sized shepherds with itchy headgear. So far, it was the most Christmas-y thing we’ve done yet this year.
What does this have to do with being childless? Absolutely nothing. But my life isn’t only about my lack of motherhood; it’s also about spending time with friends (at a fun dinner party), eating fabulous dinners out (best Italian food I know of), seeing bad movies (The Tourist. Skip it!), and celebrating the holidays with a drive-through nativity. What else is your life about right now?
My life is about appointing a new Board member, decorating the Christmas tree, finishing the Christmas cards and posting all the presents, it’s about organising a dinner party for a friend back from overseas, worrying about my mother who visited over the weekend, and trying to get to the gym often enough before Christmas that I can eat and drink relatively-guilt-free.
My life is about getting my students to pass the semester in the 7 school days left before break; it’s about being excited to spend Christmas evening with my family; it’s about wrapping the presents that I am excited to give out; it’s about trying to keep my husband’s gifts secret until Christmas morning; it’s about cuddling the crap out of my cats; it’s about looking forward to my sister and her husband (who both completely rock) moving here in three months from halfway across the country; it’s about working out and actually seeing improvement; it’s about little treats for myself (the Divine Calm bath salts were amazing, and the hot cocoa with hazelnut creamer was pretty awesome too).
I have to say that I think posting things like this says “you don’t have to have kids to do things like this”. We do things that are more child oriented even if we have no kids to take with us. We’ll go to the zoo to see the Christmas lights and we go to the Christmas parade in our town. We might be the only ones without kids but we still have fun. Does anyone care that we are there? No way! 🙂
I have to say that we do a ton of stuff that parents probably wouldn’t. It is hard to not find us at the wine tasting around our house and we certainly go out to eat to restaurants all over the place all the time. In November, our public radio station had a fundraiser at the drive in movies and we went. 🙂 It was a blast. If you are ever in Chicago let me know and I’ll take you to the drive in!
I love your lists of all the wonderful things your lives are about right now. Reading them has cheered me up no end today. Thank you. And Colleen, it’s a deal. I’ll spring for the popcorn. 🙂