Gratitude and Grief
It's the holly-dazed season once again, and as usual, it really snuck up on me. I feel like I am still considering what I should carve on my Halloween pumpkin...but bam! There are only two more weekends before Christmas! How can this be? The holidays are always a hectic time of year for me (join the club, right?) - although usually it's because I'm working and there are finals to prep and grade and next semester's courses waiting for finishing touches. But here I am, on medical leave, and this year is just as crazy as the last. Thanksgiving, in fact, was even a bit nuttier than usual, because we had most of my husband's family here for the holiday! It was a full, full house - 12 people sleeping here in our 3 bedroom townhouse - but we threw the kids into the basement rec room and the rest of it worked out well (with special thanks to our neighbors, who were away and lent us their guest room). With such a big guest list, I had lots of great plans for decoratin