Staycations are great, and other lies I tell myself

Friday afternoon the girls all finished school for the term and we fell across the finish line into school holidays. While Daisy had been off for a week already (hello brave new world of private schools) this was the official time to relax and catch our breaths after what had been a MASSIVE term for us all. Time to jump on that plane? Pack the skis and hit the slopes? Nope. It’s home for us and I was determined to try and make it seem like a break even though we are homebound. And it’s winter.

These are the first holidays that Daisy has had her world opened up to the fact that people go away on holidays (and because of the length of the holidays they go away AWAY) to Europe, to the snow, to Bali, ALL of the places! We used to be able to get away with it in our small bubble of school where a fun activity would be to go to the playground AT school and have a play. But now? Oh no we can’t. Instagram shows all the glamorous and exotic places her new friends and cousins are travelling to. Maybe she will catch on that not everyone spends their holidays in the car travelling to visit grandparents. Shit.

My brother and his family are in Croatia again this year. 3 more years for us and we will be back! Can you believe it’s been 5 years since we were there?

So I started the holiday off with something that I never normally do, a bath! It was a cold afternoon and what better way to get into the swing of things than to relax in a hot bath soak. I emptied the contents of an oat soak, thinking that sounded like just the thing my poor, dry, neglected snake skin needed, but it ended up putting oats everywhere, and I mean everywhere and made me uncertain if it was oats floating about, or in fact, my dead skin. Then the 4 year old trotted in and saw me floating and thought that looked nice, so joined in. Huh, not quite what I was after.

Then it was Saturday sport (STILL, what the FUCK Southern Highlands hockey club?!), washing that needed to be done. Try as I might to get into the swing of the holiday spirit it was HARD as you just see all the things that need to be done around home, the washing that needs doing, the dinners that need cooking, the weeds that need pulling, the laptop and paperwork that needs doing. There’s no OFF switch, rather a more, slow it down switch when holidaying at home. And don’t we want the occasional OFF every now and then? Haven’t we earned a little OFF?!

Sure, the dishwasher opening could kind of be seen as a spa treatment but it’s hardly the same thing is it? The answer is no, no it’s not Beth. It’s actually bullshit. And we got extra sickness from 2 f the kids thrown in for good measure. Nothing like a cough vomit in the middle of the night to make you feel alive and get the adrenalin running…who needs zip lining in Mexico?

But! There is something to be said for a holiday at home. There is! Let me tell you as we are quite the experts at it. Just think of the expectation and taking for granted kids get when they get taken off every single holiday to some fun and exciting place…where would the fun be in that (I know, lots of fun, these are the lies I tell myself, hush now).

It’s nice to slow down. Instead of rushing out that door, you can linger in pjs and potter about reading, colouring in, doing puzzles, getting creative with what you have. You can indulge in one of our most precious commodities at home: TIME.

Why travel to the Amalfi coast when you do a puzzle of the Amalfi coast? RIGHT.

You can explore your own neighbourhood like the tourists that come to visit enjoy. Walks in the bush, visiting local galleries or museums…whatever you have at your disposal, go and visit and enjoy. Eat out and often, and pretend that it’s basically a club sambo by the pool. Ish.

You can also indulge in the things you love to do on holidays but at home. Shut down the routine and normal and replace it with things you do on holidays. A G&T at 3pm? OK! Reading instead of working. YES. Going for walks instead of running around doing after school sports. OH MY LORD YES. I’ve been doing all those things and it’s been lovely.

So you know, while it’s not glamorous or exciting, it’s comforting and lovely. The kids have ALL their stuff here, old toys to discover, time to play and read and enjoy. There’s no plane stress, no road trip asking if we are there yet. Yeah, it’s not all bad. For now. I’m sure I will change my mind next week.

Are you enjoying a Staycation these holidays too?
Or are you one of the lucky ones in Europe? Or the States? Or somewhere tropical.

Comments

  1. I felt the same Insta pressure to give my 15 year old a holiday…went to Sydney for 3 days and Melbourne for 4. Could.not.wait.to.get.home (daughter included). Its not everything its cracked up to be this holidaying business…flights, queues, uncomfortable beds, rude people, confrontation of seeing the plight of homeless people…. Came home with a new sense of appreciation for what we are fortunate enough to have (less $2000 in my bank account). Staycations CAN be rewarding and remember that the brief Insta stories showing these ‘amazing’ holidays are most probably far removed from the reality of it.

  2. Last year I took my 13 year old daughter and we completed a 9 month trip around the world. Now there are no trips in our near future and it is not fun!

  3. The kids have broken me. I can’t remember ever staying home for a Winter holidays. Holy Paloozas?!
    On the last day of term, I carted myself off to the Doc and ordered a raft of blood tests to see if I could qualify for an Iron drip- that is how tired I was. But now on day 10 of the school
    Holidays- with two kids under 8 and BEING WITH the kids every day, I am going to return to the Doc on day one of Term 3 and DEMAND an iron drip.

    I am utterly exhausted and there is so much dandruff coming off my head you would think that I have just come off the mountain?!

    Never ever again are we staying at home for the winter holidays. I am bloody shattered. But my washing is up to date. ☺️

  4. We took our 6 and nearly 4 year old to Ireland and the UK back in April and it was horrendous. Give me a staycation over that any day! I had two lovely days at home with them this week where they stayed in their PJs until late and we did not have to rush around and it was the best. Also – very cheap!!!

  5. Don’t worry Beth – we are definitely staycationing if you could call it that – I spend most of my time at the station kitchen or mowing and see the kids for the odd 5 mins here or there telling them to get off the lounge. I did take them camping for the night last Thursday – but also lost my shit at them in the process of getting everything into the ute, but we enjoyed the night away from the house (like 10 minutes drive through a paddock, not far but far enough)…. nearly time to put the boys back on the plane to school, just a 10 hour round trip to town – could you call that a holiday, if I stay the night I suppose you could ha ha ha ha ha. Enjoy!!!! Oh and wtf is the go with hockey still on???? That is not ok!!!

  6. Living it up in my own little stay-cation… We normally go skiing, but the husband has just started a new job and we also have a newborn (although, can you believe he is already 3 months old). Took the kids to a new park today – going all out…didn’t realise that the trip there and home would be 8kms (walking…with a 6yr, 4yr, 2yr and a 3 mth old)… poor choice Mama.

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