New/Old Routine

Up until 2018, I would not take any leave in the first week of January, preferring to a) save those precious days for summer vacation or other holiday projects and b) quite enjoying the quiet first work days of the year when you had time for some overdue admin tasks and got to enjoy long lunches with the few colleagues who also worked. The I met Highflyer who is originally from Innsbruck and most of his family still live there. We have never been able to spend Christmas together as he has always had to work anyway so ever since 2019 I would spend about 10 days at my parents, celebrating Christmas with them, then driving back to Vienna to unpack and repack and then take the train to Innsbruck for at least a week of quality time with Highflyer and the bonus sons, not returning to work until after the January 6th public holiday. By the time I leave for Vienna, or rather the house in Lower Austria, I'm always shocked how quickly time has passed and a bit sad to leave my parents again, but always looking forward to be reunited with my love...and be back in my own routines without my decisions being questioned by my mother who has an opinion on everything and is not shy to voice it, even if it is sugar-coated by a "you do your own thing, but if I were you..." as probably most mothers have learnt at some state in their secret Mum Bootcamp. The older they get, the more grateful I am to still be able to celebrate Christmas with my parents and the more forgiving and "deaf" I become to comments and habits that would have annoyed me much more a few decades ago.