Why, you might ask yourself, is Annette posting another Michaelmas post when Michaelmas is over?
Well, that would be because Annette and her family did not celebrate Michaelmas on the proper day.
Truth be told, we never do, and every year it bothers the everloving snot out of me.
You see, Michaelmas is also my oldest son Michael’s name day. And we do celebrate name days, so that’s not the problem.
But it’s also Nicholas’s birthday. It’s kind of hard to have a birthday Michaelmas nameday celebration all at once.
It’s especially hard when Daddy has been away on retreat all week and Mama has not been getting a whole lot of sleep because a certain twin who shall remain nameless COUGHmatthewCOUGH is not down with the whole nightweaning thing. Actually, he has the part where he doesn’t nurse at night perfect. It’s the part where he seems to think nursing time should be replaced with a great big party complete with games and songs that is a little confusing to me.
And then add in that Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for Nick’s birthday, and it’s just hard to fit Michaelmas in. Well, Nicholas’s cake was a devil’s food cake. Does that count?
So, once again, Michaelmas gets the short end of the stick.
And once again, it bothers me.
Part of me wants to say “Forget it. If I can’t do it on the proper day, I can’t do it after all.” Because after all, isn’t that the whole point of a liturgical calendar? It doesn’t bend to our wants; we’re supposed to bend to it, to put aside the everyday and make room for God.
Well… maybe.
But maybe, when Mama is tired and the house is chaotic and there are birthdays to be celebrated… maybe it doesn’t hurt to move the feast a little.
So instead of a Michaelmas day, we’ll be having a bit of a Michaelmas week.
And instead of Michael picking out dinner on the same day Nicholas gets to pick out dinner (hot dogs wrapped in bacon for an appetizer, spaghetti and meatballs for a main course, and cake for dessert if you were wondering), Michael will get to pick out a dinner later this week.
And instead of beating myself up over it, I’m just going to roll with it, because part of being brave is stepping outside of our own comfort zone.
So, if you haven’t celebrated Michaelmas yet or you didn’t do the things you wanted to, guess what? It’s not too late! Let go of your perfectionism, and use that space and energy instead to do some of those things you meant to do. Don’t worry about what you didn’t do. Plan what you’re going to do!
Most of all, have a perfectly imperfect week!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking for ideas to celebrate Michaelmas and the Autumn Equinox?
Celebrate the Beautiful Early Autumn Festivals of the Autumn Equinox and
Michaelmas with Your Children with Little Acorn Learning!
133 PAGES of Verses, Fingerplays, Poems, Song, Crafts, Meditations, Book Recommendations,
Circle Times, Recipes and Much More to Guide You in Celebrating the Autumn Equinox and Michaelmas
in Your Home or School!
The goal of perfectionism is one that I so struggle with; I made myself a goal to embrace contentment, rather than strive to be perfect, and it is proving so much harder than I could possibly have imagined.
I love the Voltaire quote … actually, I’m really just loving this entire series – oh so timely!
Love the post. I have struggled with this for so many years. This year I decided to tend the fire of our family and not try to control or seek perfection. Our year is going so much better and we are all more relaxed.
It seems we are always doing something on Michaelmas proper. Last year we were at the beach. This year, my little one had a cub scout day. And it is also my mother’s birthday. However, I think it was Melisa Nielsen who told me that Michaelmas is a season – I am guessing like there is Christmas day, but there is also a Christmas season.
I think you are embracing the spirit of Michaelmas by being brave and continuing to celebrate – even if the day has come and gone.
Here is to a season of bravery and courage. May we all stand in that light.
Perfectly imperfect sounds good enough to me. We also had a bunch of conflicts this year and so we rolled with it. We had our school festival on Friday, the 28th, then on the feast day, my husband and I went to Tough Mudder for him to do the event: it was his dragon to conquer this year. Then on Sunday, we celebrated both my husband’s birthday and Michaelmas all at once, with extended family. And ya know, that’s just fine.
Thanks for featuring our e-book on your post!
Sara
You’re welcome– it’s wonderful!