Over a week of festive cheer, unlimited amounts of food, limited amounts of sleep and now we're in the limbo land of time between Christmas and New Year, when we'll do it all over again.
I usually spend this time in a state akin to suspended animation but this year I'm going to put it to good use.
This morning I tackled my workroom, which has been used as a storage area for empty boxes, packaging, wrapping supplies and all the things we couldn't find space for anywhere else. Having cleared out all of the surplus stuff I've tidied and hoovered and restored it to a workable condition.
Due to being out of commission for the best part of a week earlier this month, I haven't cleared my order book by the end of the year, which I normally strive to do. It's a good feeling to start the New Year with a clear order book but I was overtaken by circumstances this year and it just hasn't happened.
I also usually set aside January to work on new miniatures and do strategic planning for the year ahead. I'll be doing a bit of that from next week but with unfinished business from 2015 I'll be playing catch up probably during January and beyond.
Then there's my workshop planning.... I have two in the pipeline and another for the Cotswold Miniatures Weekend next October. The latter is the most pressing as I have to have photos of my finished samples ready by 14 January at the latest.
No pressure there then.
It's doable, but at the expense of just about everything else I should be working on.
Then there's my annual dusting off of a languishing project which I started in December 2008.
Yes that's a little over 7 years ago. Which is shameful even by my standards of procrastination.
I even started a private blog at the time, which I've been re-reading this morning, by turns impressed at my resolution then toe-curlingly embarrassed at my wildly optimistic plans and deadlines.
I can't believe there wasn't a tiny part of my hindbrain which knew that it was never going to happen. Planning and organising is one thing (well strictly speaking they're two things but in this case they go together) but implementing and following through is another (two things) and while I'm a past master as the former, I'm frankly rubbish at the latter.
Every year at this time I review progress (not much) and resolve to woman up, buckle down and get on with it. This resolve can last for up to three weeks but then my natural tendency to doubt what I'm doing and how I'm doing it, rears its ugly head and I get downcast, disheartened, and disillusioned. Then I shelve it again for another year.
I'm going to try really hard not to do that this time. It's such a big project, which will take up so much time that it's like contemplating moving a mountain of sand with a teaspoon. I simply can't dedicate the amount of time which it will need to bring it to completion so I try to break it down into manageable chunks, but of course pledging even an hour each day to work on it, and trying to ring-fence that admittedly laughably small period of time isn't so easy, especially when I have umpteen other much more urgent tasks competing for my attention.
So instead of mothballing it yet again, I'm going to leave it out in plain sight. And even if I can only spare a few minutes out of a working day I'm going to try very hard not to throw in the towel like I've done every other time.
I'm not holding my breath.........
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