This has been the busiest December I can recall. Certainly since before the pandemic, so that’s something. I’m averaging 55-60 hour work weeks, which is insane and unsustainable…thankfully things are coming to a close soon and I’ll get some breathing time.

We haven’t been doing a whole lots of social activities here, as you can imagine. In a way some of my concerts are social as often there is downtime to chat with colleagues, so that’s been nice. I’m doing a cookie party in a few days, and I’m looking forward to getting a massage later this week. I’m finishing up teaching at Wash U on Tuesday, at my morning school on Wednesday, and at home on Thursday. And then I get a break for a few weeks, and I can’t wait!

I read some blogs and see people doing parties, and cookie decorating, and seeing concerts and shows, and I’m so happy for you all! I’m the one playing for all of those things (well, not cookie decorating.). I’ve played Messiah with two choirs, played with the 442’s (a local band), played at a variety of churches, played with backup tracks for a solo gig at a corporate event, even did a wedding (no Christmas music at all, crazy!). We did manage to celebrate Hanukkah and had a nice time with that, and I even accomplished a completely insane week where I added up approximately 70 hours of work. December pays for some other months, really, though it’s gotten to the point that I wonder which months that is. It’s possible I need to cut back, but I’m also having a good time, other than being tired.

Now, it’s ME so I’ve also done some baking, with more planned. I’m still getting used to my “new”oven. I finally ordered an oven thermometer and plan to use it later today to see what’s really going on: the oven definitely runs hot, but the other issue is that it’s not totally consistent through the space. Our old house had a wonderful convection oven, which we have been tempted on more than one occasion to bring over here (the old house isn’t sold, though a friend is currently living there.) I have had various successes and failures with baking, some due to my errors, some due to oven errors (and probably me too), and one due to misreading and putting the dish in a smaller pan than asked for AND overbaking it. Sigh.

These cookies didn’t spread at all, but they are delicious and fudgy and I love them. I did have some spreading issues, which makes me think that either my baking soda/powder isn’t working anymore (getting new of both to be sure) or I’m adding too much flour (though the dough has felt okay for some of the recipes) or who knows. I’m also thinking the oven being weird doesn’t help, but hopefully I can figure out what to do with that. Nonetheless the above cookies were delicious and some are still left…(actually many.)

Miles and Muriel really love the radiators when the heat is on. They are going to be so disappointed when spring comes! They spend most of their time going from one radiator to the next, together or separately. There’s no specific rhyme or reason to it, but I’m sure it makes sense to them.

I have a church service to play for this morning (Vaughan-Williams at Ladue Chapel), some lessons to teach, and a concert this evening at another church. Last weekend I had four different performances with rehearsals, which was a bit much. Seriously, this December has been crazy. I’ve said no to a ton of stuff too, which I always hate doing, but I’m happy to be so busy! In a way. Louie has been crazy as well, with finishing up classes, getting ready to teach a winter break class, and getting a paper ready to submit. We are both workaholics, which is a fundamental part of our relationship, I suppose. We talk about what is sustainable about this, and what might work for the future to slow down, but he has no intention of retiring early, and he seemed surprised when I suggested that I planned to retire at 65. I guess one can never tell the future, but sometimes I look at this and say, hmm, 20 more years and then I’m done!

We’ll see! How is your December going? Do you find this is the first year that things are REALLY back in full swing with events and parties and concerts? Are you leaning into the holiday craziness or stepping back and trying to focus on just a few things?

One more thing: I’ve been listening to various podcasts about life balance, organization and such, and I’m thinking about my goals for 2024. I haven’t been setting specific goals or intentions for a few years (pandemic mind) but there are some things I would like to accomplish in the near future, and maybe writing them down and actually, you know, working towards them, would be a good idea. Perhaps I’ll do a goals blog post, with the ones that I would feel comfortable sharing publicly.