The Holiday Slowdown

I have admitted several times that I'm not a big fan of winter. I do occasionally cross country ski and have ice fished a half-dozen times, but given my preference, I'll take any other of the seasons.

Having said that, I do have to admit that I kind of enjoy this stretch from Thanksgiving until New Years. My son said that its nice because you always seem to have something to celebrate coming up or a break to look forward to. The reasons I enjoy the breaks are many and I'm sure you share a few with me.


  • Extended time with close family. My daughter came home from college on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and left to go back today. I was saying to my wife how good it was to have Sarah around the house, even when she was only sleeping. I miss her so much. At one point her and my son were giggling and messing around to the point of distraction. I turned to my wife and said, "I miss that tittering between them." 
  • Fun with extended family. On Thanksgiving we hosted Donna's brother and his partner for dinner. After a delicious feast, we played a board game called The Resistance. It was a game of strategy and teamwork and made us all laugh. I realized that as benign as this was, these are the kinds of things that our kids will remember down the road. Everybody has traditions and if not, sometimes you invent them on the fly.
  • Sleeping in.  It is a simple, guilty pleasure and I take advantage of it whenever I can during these holiday breaks. Unfortunately, my body clock gets me up by 7:00 most days, but occasionally I pull an eight o'clocker. I know we're supposed to keep our sleeping schedule the same during these breaks, but nobody listens to that advice anyways. Life's too short to wake up to an alarm every day. It rejuvenates me to get up at my own pace. 
  • Pajamas and coffee. Mornings move slow and take their time during the holiday breaks. No ironing to do, leisurely breakfasts, and lingering over coffee. 
  • Writing time.  These extended days off in a row allow me to catch up to my writing goals. Little things like submitting work, book promotion and getting new stuff written all gets chipped away during the break.
  • Reading time. Being able to read guilt free is wonderful. I need to do more of that in 2014. Right now I am reading Lost on Planet China. The book is hilarious escape and actually takes me to China. Believe me, after reading it, I don't care if I ever visit China.
  • Staying up late.  Not having to rise at 6:15 means I can stay up late and watch Breaking Bad. 
  • Spontaneous Naps. Another simple, guilty pleasure, and usually the result of the previous bullet point.
  • Spend time with Donna. Be it coffee at our favorite coffee shop or just hanging around the house, we get a chance to catch up on things and appreicate each others' company. We're both more relaxed and it shows. 
  • Reflect. This time of year always causes me to look back at the year and take stock. It always reminds me how rich I am and how good life truly is.
  • Football. College or pro, there's a lot of it on television and I keep it on in the other room with the sound down while I do other things. It's a weird, whacked out kind of sports multitask. 
This has been a good Thanksgiving break, filled with all the above. Now it's time to get back to work until the next break, because hard work makes them even better.

Blogging off...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

National Poetry Month: Issue 18

In a rush, a poem from Richard Brautigan from,  The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster. A Good-Talking Candle                    by Richard Brautigan I had a good-talking candle last night in my bedroom. I was very tired but I wanted somebody to be with me,    so I lit a candle. and listened to its comfortable voice of light until I was asleep. Blogging off...
Read more

New Chapters

Image
 As many of you know I retired last week after almost 27 years at Waukesha County. It was a bit of a shock to some, in part because I am only 61. Nevertheless I'd given it much thought and talked it through with my family and determined it was time. I wanted to get out while I am healthy and perhaps more specifically just do something different. I am lucky enough to say I've loved my work over the past 37 years. GIS and mapping has been my passion since college and I was fortunate enough to get paid to do something I loved.  I'll be honest, while I looked forward to the date of retirement, I was not looking forward to the celebration. Like my daughter, who is more like me than not, I do not like being in the spotlight. While I've become more comfortable being in front of people in part because of my writing and its related promotion and readings, deep down I'm still an introvert with extrovert flares, as they say. But dreading it as I did, it turned out to be a spec
Read more

A Portal To The Past

Image
It is a warm August evening in 1989 and my girlfriend and I are sitting at the bar of Wolski's Tavern on the lower East side of Milwaukee. We are awaiting our friend, Bill, for a couple of drinks and maybe a game of darts, the real steel-tipped kind with chalkboard scoring. The music system, complete with octagonal shaped speakers that hang from the ceiling, belts out hits of the day by REM, New Order and The Cure. Flags of foreign countries and other places cover the ceiling in parachute fashion and the cash register is the old fashioned kind whose keys requires a two handed forceful push, followed by the drawer opening and a ca-ching. Everything about the place has an old Milwaukee feel to it and it is a recent favorite haunt of mine since I moved to the East Side. I am drinking a Point Beer because it's cheap and a nice change from Miller products. Donna is on her second or third Gin and Tonic and is getting that dreamy look in her eyes. She has a bit of a grin on her face
Read more