Break Time!

As of December 23, 2014, at approximately 1 pm, I will be on vacation from work. I don’t have to go back until January 5th. Much like a five year old child on Christmas Eve, I can hardly wait. Instead of the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” this will be the Twelve Days of Vacation. WooHoo!

To honor and respect this time off, I will be holding myself to as little blogging as possible. You won’t hear a peep from me the remainder of this week. I have friends and family to attend to and I don’t need thoughts of “OhmygoshIhaven’tbloggedintwodaysandeveryonewillthinkIdiedsoIbetterwritesomething!” swimming around in my head.

Yeah, those thoughts. I am putting them in a box and burying them out in the field.

This week, I will spend Christmas Eve with good friends, food, wine and a Hobbit movie. On Christmas Day, my brother and his girlfriend come to town for four days. At that point, we will be spending time with mom, taking a day trip or two, and finding new eateries and watering holes – because the holidays are about family and adding circumference to the human body.

After the 29th, my plans are about sleeping in, cleaning out my closet and sock drawer, harassing the cats and laying about the house in my pajamas until it’s time to go to the gym or I need milk. I may dress up on New Year’s Eve to go to the ball if I manage to take a shower and we don’t have a blizzard. New Year’s Day is about black-eye peas and cornbread (Natasha’s tradition) and pickled herring (Mary’s tradition) and more lay-around pajama time.

The holidays seem to come and go so fast. We are bombarded with Christmas trees and music and Black Friday shopping from the start of October. Then January 1st comes along and it seems we forget about all of it (not related to a hangover). The trees come down, the lights dim, the jingle bells stop, and the after-Christmas sale items get severely picked over. Cookies have been eaten, parties are over, family has gone home. It’s over a bit too quick in a sad sort of way. I would love for neighborhoods to keep their trees and houses lit through January, to ward off the initial dregs of winter. It would make the cold of the month much easier to swallow. (For those of you in the other hemisphere, where it’s toasty warm, I am a bit jealous.)

Anyhow, I plan to enjoy the next two weeks as much as possible. Soak in the glow of the holiday season. Breathe in every last scent of pine and cranberry. Overdose on sugar. Hug my brother and the girlfriend and anyone else who gets in my way. Sing Joy to the World as loud as I can. Drink wine while I clean out the messy sock drawer. Stay off the computer and connect with human flesh and my smelly pajamas.

It starts with Natasha and I Santa wrapping presents for the parents of the wee little ones that live downstairs.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to those who celebrate. For all of my readers and the WordPress family, thank you for stopping here in 2014. I wish you peace, success and happiness in 2015.