This is it.

Today is my last day of work before having 17 days off in a row. The best part? Only 2 of those are vacation days… the rest are just gifts for working in higher education and earning much less than I could out there in the “real world”. Ahem.

Everyone around here keeps asking if I am ready for Christmas. Emotionally – yes, I am. Christmas itself isn’t much of an ordeal for me. Homer is Jewish, so that fact that we celebrate anything to do with Christmas with my family has always been a no-brainer. That makes it pretty stress-free on the family front. The other good thing is that none of the extended family festivities happen at my house. I just have to show up with my kids and my potluck dish and that’s all that is expected of me.

Of course, when people are asking whether or not I’m ready, they are really asking if I have my shopping done. Nope. Not even close. Am I stressed about it? Nope. I know exactly what I am buying people and where to get it (I have a chart drawn up). I have the day off tomorrow and will shop all day while the kids are still in school/daycare. I have my route mapped out and will not hit one single mall. I’ll wrap everything up after the kids have gone to bed on Friday night and I’ll be done. I do it this way every year and the system hasn’t failed me yet.

For the rest of the holidays, I’ll just tinker around the house (read: clean out closets, cupboards and the basement), spend lots of time with the kids and Homer and meet up with some friends for coffee or lunch. Seventeen days seems like a long time right now, but I’m pretty sure it will seem too short on the other side of it.

I’m not sure if I’ll post in the next couple of weeks or just take a little break.

Wishing all my bloggy friends a wonderful Christmas full of cookies, friends, family and wishes granted. I’ll see you when I see you!