Reflections of a Social Media Delinquent

I’m back from a bit of a blogging and social media hiatus.

Honestly, I’ve missed writing and have thought about “ye old blog” on a daily basis since my last entry, but I’ve been ambivalent about carving time out to post new entries.

I took time off from work during the week before Christmas and it was wonderful.

I slept in (thank you Andy for being the world’s greatest dad), played with Grace, baked,

Glazed cranberry, lemon poppy seed bread

visited with friends, baked,

went to doctor appointments, baked,

made a fun gift for my sister,

A series of earring displays that were a super fun DIY project.  I’m kicking myself for not taking “before” pictures of the hideous frames and un-cut gutter guard I used for the mesh.

visited with family, baked, read tons of books to Grace, crossed items off my Christmas to-do list, went to parties,

Grace and I before a party

listened to Christmas carols, napped, baked,
 

ate lots of unapproved (fatty and salty) foods, drank eggnog by the tree,

shopped alone in uncrowded stores for gifts I was excited to give, wrapped gifts,

I didn’t have enough of either wrapping paper to cover Grace’s kitchen set, so I combined the two.  Good thing she’s too little to care about aesthetics :)

I used to be “too good” for stick-on bows.  Now look at all of them!

hung out with Andy, played games, enjoyed the decorations around the house,

Instagram makes me look like a fancy photographer :)

Notice the unique placement of the items on the advent calendar.  Grace got creative with the camels :)

 

It was fun smooching Grace under the mistletoe :)

I love the “Let it Snow” votive holders on the top of the cabinet – Great gift from my mom a few years ago!

made yummy dinners and had them on the table before 6pm, oh, and I baked some more.

By Christmas Eve, I was well-rested and joyful.  It didn’t hurt that we got awesome news only days before the big day :)

My Christmas vacation was the perfect mix of rest, relaxation, accomplishments and socialization…something I had worried about before the break started.  I’m full of overly high expectations, so I had been worrying about how to maximize the time off and make sure it was all that I hoped it would be without burning myself out.

Somehow, by the grace of God, it was.  I’m really thankful that it worked out that way.  It felt like the cherry on top of this year.

During all of the “living” I was doing last week, I had nagging thoughts about how I wasn’t at all participating in the social media universe.  I wasn’t really Facebooking or Tweeting or Blogging.  I’d think about statuses to post or clever tweets, but I just couldn’t bring myself to stop what I was doing to put those thoughts out there.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m as hooked as the next person is on being connected to everyone online.  I’m an overly frequent checker of the Dynamic Duo (FB and Twitter).

I read other people’s tweets and statuses when I had free moments here or there and I posted a few pictures to Instagram, but it just seemed so meaningless to carve out chunks of time to make my internet presence known.

I mean, who really cares?

Sure, I have friends and family on Facebook who I love to dialog with.  They make it fun to post pictures or silly statuses, but Twitter?  Twitter just seems like a giant void that I occasionally throw a few words at.

And blogging?  I love blogging.  I really do.  After going to BlogHer this summer, I decided that I want to keep blogging even if nothing big ever comes from it.  I want to share my heart, my story, my kitchen adventures and my random ramblings with whoever is interested in reading about it.  Even if it never turns into a big deal blog.

At my core, that’s what I still believe.

Sometimes it’s easy to be discouraged when I sit back and watch the “cool kids” of the blogging world taking things by storm.  The companies that sponsor them, the number of followers they have on Twitter, the number and quality of comments on their posts, the cool products they’re given to review, the support they rally for great causes.

It’s all very exciting and even fun to watch from afar.  Some days I feel envy and other days I feel relief that I’m not one of the “big dogs” or even the “up and comings”.

If I don’t want to post for a week, I’m still going to be able to pay my mortgage and I’m not going to lose any Twitter followers or Klout (which I don’t even really know or care about).

Being the extremist that I am, there are other days that I think, “If I’m not going to push this to become something huge, why am I even bothering?”

That’s probably just the bad guy on one shoulder trying to rob me of the joy I find in social media, but part of me wonders if most of this stuff is just a colossal waste of the precious time we have on earth.

When I’m old and gray, I’ll be so much more proud of raising children who love God, fear Him and long to follow Him.  I’ll look back fondly on the ways I was able to love and support Andy along his path to becoming a doctor.  I’ll feel satisfaction about keeping a clean, cozy and welcoming home and pouring love into every breakfast lunch and dinner that I feed my family.  I’ll treasure memories of time spent with family and friends and helping people around me.

I don’t think I’ll give a damn about how popular I was online.

I plan to keep blogging because I find that, especially the second half of this year, it has been a very cathartic and healing thing for me.  I’m working to reveal my true self and break down the walls I’ve crafted to keep me isolated from deeper relationships.  It’s helped me to learn lessons and to capture memories to look back on for years to come.

No part of this post was intended to fish for compliments, so please know that I was only digesting what I’ve been thinking over the past week or so and I happened to do it here.

I’m glad that you have made Daily Rebecca a part of your year, and it’s my hope that some story, confession, recipe or silly random thought may have added something to your day at some point this year.

I’m looking forward to another year (the 8th year!) with my little corner of the blogosphere :)

And a few more pics for posterity:

Me with my beautiful mom.  I tried to make it an ugly sweater party, but I was the only one ;)