Good morning and happy Saturday!
I hope this note finds everyone happy, healthy and rested from a busy Christmas week. If you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza or something else, I hope that you enjoyed your holidays and got to spend time laughing and loving with friends and family.
I don’t think I am alone in saying I feel like Christmas arrived way too quickly and I was not super prepared this year. Normally I start listening to holiday music and watching holiday movies in November. I break out the decorations and gleefully channel Clark Griswold as I go overboard decorating and stay up late watching a stack of movies while making gifts. I didn’t make a single gift this year. It took me forever to decorate. I watched very few movies and listened to very little Christmas music. Every year I almost make it like a Christmas task to watch all my movies and then feel sad if I don’t see them all. I always feel like I need to make something special. That the music needs to play 24/7. Alexa will tell you I have been listening to a lot more Wyclef, Lizzo and 90’s hip hop… oh and Hanson’s Snowed In album… more than any traditional Christmas music haha. I thought that I would feel disappointed that I didn’t get more into the spirit and do my traditional “things” (I did watch Christmas Vacation three times so there’s that!) because in the past I have felt like something was missing if I didn’t.
However, not really finding the “spirit” this year actually made the holiday less stressful. I didn’t feel like we had to do every Christmas activity out there, I wasn’t up until 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve or all the nights leading up to it trying to rush to get things done. I didn’t spend a lot of time planning outfits, forcing us to try to get perfect photos (so yes, my 3 year old happens to have his finger in his nose for several photos, gross, but that’s him right now!), our Elf didn’t have to do a ton of pranks this year (like staying up until 2 a.m. making a house that I threw away)… I tried to lower my expectations and just be in the moment. Christmas is magical through the eyes of a kid whether or not you check off everything on the “how to be merry” checklist. I don’t feel sad I didn’t see all my movies or listen to all the music, I don’t feel like we missed anything and I feel a lot more rested than Christmases past. So I definitely learned what the Grinch has probably been trying to teach me all these years- nothing has to be picture perfect to be perfect.
So now to the part that I have been dreading writing. (Seriously, I started writing that sentence 45 minutes ago and got distracted because I’m sad to write it.) I started publishing the Macaroni Kid Midcoast Maine edition 10 months ago because I thought the Midcoast area could use a resource to find all the local family fun. I found SO MANY things going on that I never knew about… you can scroll Facebook events and find things, but it’s so much easier to have it all on one calendar so you aren’t always playing hide and seek looking for things! We found ourselves having more adventures and discovering new things- so that we could also share it with our readers, my kids loved our summer of discovery all in the name of research 😉 I love the idea that MK can help local businesses reach local families, that people can find free or frugal family events and that we have so much parenting content from other publishers. It is such an invaluable resource for families-whether local or traveling (I use it when I travel!) I have lists of all the things I wanted to do with MK- events in the area, businesses to reach out to work with on advertising, etc. because they really let you run your site however you want. BUT here comes the sort of sad part… I kept feeling like I needed to go back to school. I realized that every year I was contacting my old professor and asking her about classes, if I could just take one without wanting a degree, etc. and I knew that it was something I keep feeling like I need to do.
Starting in January I am going back to school… something I never thought I would do again. Seriously, I said I had no interest in being in a college classroom and here I am… with a list of about 10 classes I want to take! I’m taking it slow- just two classes this first semester while I adjust to having homework again. I really miss photography and am self-taught and know there is still a lot I don’t know. So the fact that there was a class in Brunswick, with a professor my old professor (turned friend) said is amazing and is while my son is in preschool, seemed like fate. Usually a schedule doesn’t just happen easily like that, but the stars aligned and I took it as a sign.
All of this to say, in January I will no longer be publishing for Macaroni Kid. It’s hard for me to say no to things and to let things go… this is particularly hard when I look at all the time I put in trying to build the site. I have to say that Macaroni Kid may have gotten my passion to learn new things back. They offer so many courses in different things to help you with your site, I found myself excited to learn new things and signing up for a lot of their mini-courses… which was just further proof that I had a thirst to learn some new things. I am all over the place (thanks ADD) and I think being in a classroom setting is really the best way for me to freshen up my skills as it forces me to have discipline and will make it so that I have to finish it.
It’s really hard to let go of my site. If anyone out there reading this is interested in publishing the MK Midcoast edition please feel free to reach out and I can connect you with the right people to get started! It’s been a fun journey. I have learned a lot, gotten to be on TV and the radio (both things I have always wanted to do and originally thought might be a career path), met some really awesome, creative and helpful people. That last point I can emphasize enough… I have done some MLM stuff that have nice people, offer some training, but none of it compares to everything MK has done to support their publishers, how the publishers support each other, the trainings, partnerships with National companies, etc. It’s truly very special what they have created, which is why it’s so hard to make this decision.
So 2020 will truly be a year of new things. Juggling two kids and school (plus my Etsy business) will definitely be a new set of challenges, but it’s something I am ready for… even if it means it cuts into the time I usually work out and spend time working… sometimes when I realize my few hours of coveted free time will be gone I wonder if I am making a mistake… but it’s only for a few months and it will probably force me to get up early to go to the gym. It will all work out even if it means some logistical challenges.
What new and exciting things await you in 2020? Any exciting plans? Goals you want to crush? Places you plan to see? Things you want to try or learn?
I hope 2020 brings everyone lots of laughter, happiness and health!
Thank you all for joining me on this fun adventure! It truly has been great (and I'll still be around trying to add events until the site gets taken down in January- unless someone wants to take over :) )
Whitney
