December and the Holidays

It is now mid-December and I just read my latest blog. What happened between the adventure at Chinese school and now? Let's see, about 3.5 weeks of Abigail sickness. I think Abigail was only sick 2 weeks but between Harold and myself, we were sick most of November. I don't think we recovered until right before Harold's mom and nephew and niece came for Thanksgiving.

So being ill took the sails right out of my baking extravaganza and then the cooking marathon that was Thanksgiving also exhausted me in ways that I am only now recovering from. And then also on top of all that was the big lay-offs. Michael is now gone and the power vacuum and imminent organizational changes have left me with some sleepness nights. But I now more or less reconciled with all things. I wanted to be cautious, political and self-preserving.

My current thoughts are on how to enjoy the holidays without exhausting myself and keeping on plan. I spent 4 hours decorating the tree and it left me drained. I swore while putting up the lights and thought that it was definitely not fun. But as Harold pointed out, after all the work, the lights and ornaments look lovely.

Keeping on plan is proving to be harder. I tired of salads and my Middle Easter mixes into my salad. So I'm trying to stay with the trusted and true veggie soup. But it is still difficult to stay on plan with all the wonderful desserts and all my wonderful stress. A double whammy for me. Also the knee is still sore and I haven't been organized enough to get the bicycle contraption purchased and set up.

I had thought of giving myself a break for Christmas but I reconsidered and thought if I were at least conscious of any weight gain, I would at least not be in denial.

Let's see how I fare.