Hello Friends. It’s been a strange holiday indeed. Where to begin? Where to begin? How about everything that feels normal?

Both of my kids have been home since last Monday, almost a week and that, in and of itself, is comforting. Even if they are independent and don’t really need me anymore, it is nice that we are all under the same roof and I was able to have them in tow when I went to my Mom’s house on Christmas Eve. There’s just something about going to sleep and waking up knowing they are home and safe. It has also been nice that my daughter has been driving the two of them back and forth from their dad’s house and to go shopping and to get food. Not playing mom taxi is great! I think the normal ends there. 

The first thing that is not normal is the weather. Fog, warmer than usual temps, and no snow makes it feel more like October than December. That kinda sets the mood, you know. The whole not-feeling-like-Christmas-at-all mood. 

Yes, I did the last minute shopping and wrapping and tried to get into the spirit by listening to Christmas music but it all sounded like garbage and I found myself skipping a lot of songs that were in the amazon music streaming queue. I’m more of a Christmas classic sort of gal, but even Bing didn’t seem to hit the spot. Who came up with that name, Bing?! I guess his real name is Harry and if my name was Harry, I’d probably adopt a nickname too. 

Feels like the week flew by and when that happens, and then you hit the actual holiday, it is time to slow down. I don’t think I’ve had a busier Christmas Eve in all my years. And that day started at about 3:30 AM. Not a typo. 

When I woke, I was immediately wide awake and thinking about the organization I have been doing with regard to my laptop, google drive, and external hard drive. It is the end of the year and some reorg and backup were high on my priority list. And I wanted to get it done before the holiday so I could relax and rest easy knowing that it was already done. I think I pretty much wrapped that all up by 7 AM so at least waking up so damn early meant I was productive. 

At 7 AM I finished that task and celebrated by going back to bed with Jim for an hour. 

At 8 AM I got some cardio in while watching the season finale of the Bachelorette and that was very satisfying. 

At 9 AM I hung out with Jim and his boys for their gift exchange. They open gifts on Christmas eve in the morning like it was Christmas day. Then his boys go back to their mom’s house.

At 10 AM I had an appointment at the bank to open a business checking account for the Good Life Review. I should write a whole post on the process of establishing a nonprofit organization in the state of Nebraska. Such a long ordeal with the very last step is getting acknowledgment from the IRS that they have approved the 501(c)(3)/tax-exempt status. The meeting at the bank took almost two hours!! 

This left very little time for me to come home, cook food for the family gathering at my mom’s house, AND get ready to go. By 3 PM I was exhausted and fried and in no mood to be festive for the next 4 hours. 

Originally, I had wanted to play games with my sister(s) and the kids and anyone else in our small-ish crew that was interested, but the dinner seemed to take forever. Then gift opening. Then desert. Ugh! By the time we got to 7:30, I was done for and really kinda losing my ability to focus and even carry on a conversation. Plus, I had developed a headache. All I could think about was getting home. 

By the time I arrived home, I had a full-blown migraine. I took a hit of my sumatriptan nasal spray and some anti-nausea med and persevered through 8:30 picking up, unpacking the car, and putting myself to bed. Such a sad ending to a day and event I’ve been looking forward to. 

***

December 25.

My sleep was really quite rotten, and I woke up every few hours. My headache persisted and I had developed a pretty nasty stomach pain too. Still not sure what that is from. When 3:30 AM hit, I was ready to be done with the night and so for the second night in a row, I was up and at it before 4 AM. Ugh!

On the bright side, I still had to play “santa ” filling stockings and putting the remainder of the gifts out. But when I was done with that, I tried to sleep on the couch and that was a no-go. Between the cats fighting at 5 AM and the owl hooting endlessly in the backyard, I just laid there feeling done with the day before it began. Not a great way to start Christmas day.

I never did go back to sleep. Instead, I waited until 9AM and then woke my kids up to truly begin our typical Christmas morning festivities. That includes opening gifts and having our traditional cinnamon rolls and bacon breakfast. 

They had to leave by noon to head to their dads house at which time I cleaned up all the mess and proceeded to do almost nothing the rest of the day. I did have to drive to check in on my friends Kitten, Stormy, but really never changed out of my lounge clothes all day. 

Jim and I ate leftovers and frozen pizza for Christmas dinner and then drove around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. 

When we came back home I managed to stay awake while we watched a movie “The Waterman” and after that I fell into bed and was asleep before the lights were turned out. 

***

December 26.

The early mornings continued the next day with another 4 AM wake up. Three strikes and I’m out. Something has to change there. 

Anyway. Today was pretty good despite the continued exhaustion. My sister who lives in Denver came over and we chatted and played board games with the kids. We played Trash Panda, Settlers of Catan, and Azul. I was glad to have the chance to play with them while they are all here because come Monday, people are scattering back to their regular routines.

I also cooked a traditional Christmas dinner because none of the meals I had over the thanksgiving and Christmas holidays satisfied that itch. 

Thankfully I was able to find a 12 pound turkey which was just right for our crew. However I also discovered that just about everyone favors dark meat so the leftovers are mostly white meat. Perfect for turkey sandwiches! 

The rest of the bones and scraps will go outside to our neighborhood cats, Noir, Bootsie, Garfield, Slinky, and whatever else roams in the night. It’s satisfying to know that not much of it will go to waste. And I’ll be heading into the new year with a renewed sense of eating healthier and working on those 10 pounds I gained this year. 

I think that wraps it up for another year. And about time..:Christmas is exhausting! 

Happy, Merry, Joy, Joy, 

~Miss SugarCookie