One more week of teaching…

I tell you. This December has been the busiest. Maybe because of work, maybe because in between working I’m getting ready to host my whole family (minus my brother) for Christmas…time is flying by, but I’m having a good time preparing, playing a ton of fun gigs, and teaching my students. It’s just…hectic and there’s a lot happening, and my life is full of lists and online shopping.

I’m probably buying too many gifts for people. And baking too many cookies, and having too many decorations, and all of that excess. I know that we are supposed to slow down and have experiences and spend quality time, but the truth is Louie and I work entirely too much for that—he with a full time job and working towards a doctorate, and nobody who hasn’t done that truly understands how much he works outside of work, and me with a variety of part-time jobs that usually add up to about 1 and a half full time jobs, and we are just too busy. I don’t say that to brag or to make you think I’m overwhelmed…it’s just the truth of the matter. So I lie in bed at the end of the day and sometimes just scroll on my phone, and find things online to buy that will make our lives easier in the short term, or something that I want my niece to have, or a little something new to decorate for the holidays because my holiday décor (Christmas mostly, but we are celebrating Hanukkah this year too for Louie) brings me great joy. I sent out photo cards this year, and still have a few to send but most are out, and that brought me joy as well. In fact, most of what I’m doing is bringing me joy because this is my favorite time of year.

I’m not stressed, really. I’m exhausted, and I’m full of thoughts and to-do lists and music and making sure that each night I know what to wear and what to bring for the next day, but I’m not stressed or overwhelmed. I’m just getting it done. I feel grateful I have the opportunity to play so many concerts this month, and I honestly love holiday music. So I’m feeling good, though you are saying, yeah, lady, but you’re writing about this on a Friday night. True. I’m at home, and I didn’t go to Ikea with Louie’s family to celebrate whatever the name of the event there tonight is because I was teaching late, but I also hate crowds, so I’m fine with that. We had the holiday party at my college job today which is my favorite work event of the year (okay, it’s the only work party all year, but it’s great fun to see everybody) and then taught, and now I’m just relaxing and probably going to bed early because tomorrow I have three different things happening from 9:30 am to 10 pm, so it’s a big day!

This isn’t the most recent picture of the décor, so I’ve added a few things: stockings and a star for the tree.

The crowd at Thanksgiving. We went to Louie’s mom’s house and it was a lot of fun, with delicious food.

Anyway, time to relax! And…there’s only 11 more days until vacation…I’m doing a few gigs between Christmas and Epiphany, but I think it’s like two weddings and that’s all. It’ll be a nice time.