So finally I have the house back to ourselves. Ironic when I'd spent the last couple of weeks stressing about relatives not being allowed to come to us for Christmas. So in theory absolutely delighted it went ahead, however I'd forgotten that I don't appear to be a natural hostess.
We had people staying for 3 nights ( one staying for one more night tonight, but he's pals with DS15 and absolutely no bother). 5 additional people staying in the house including one toddler and 4 more staying at a hotel, but with us during the day.
I love these people dearly, but I just struggle to keep on top of it all. Happy enough to churn out one big meal a day, but then I think people should sort themselves out for breakfast, and I put out leftovers for tea.
It used to be after Christmas dinner, the people not going on the walk and who hadn't prepared the meal would do the cleaning up, but a couple of the people seem to have become even less helpful than usual so DH ended up doing the pan washing up myself, although I did manage to force DS to unstack the dishwasher.
So I managed to hold it together mostly, but on top of not actually helping people were trying to give me extra jobs like sorting out their tumble drying and putting on a wash ( toddler emergency).
In the end it all worked out but I find it hard to hide my frazzlement and the unsaid expectation that proper Mums are able to do all this. i did try asking the young adults to help, but even getting them to finish their multiple cans of soft drink and put them in the recycling seems to be an impossibility.
Is there anyone who thrives on hosting and genuinely enjoys this? I do like the company but feel a lot of the burden falls straight on me ( DH does his bit with cleaning and prep).