I’ve taken a bajillion days off. It’s been largely wonderful – with a little stomach flu thrown in – and I’ve still got tomorrow’s holiday off. I’m going to use this time to do a few things, including a Costco run and file our new Christmas gifts into their respective homes, and also update here!
This holiday season had its ups and downs. The family time was great – the rest of the season was pretty hectic, as I failed to finalize all shopping and baking prior to December 1 – a rookie mistake, but with the move in late summer and then billing so much in the fall, I just couldn’t get it together. C’est la vie. We staggered through. I had three work holiday parties – that’s a lot of parties, especially when the job does not reduce the billing requirement for this month one bit. I went to all of them though – (1) the family party at Rock n’ Bowl, where the boys bowled, danced, made wax casts of their hands, and had a blast; (2) the practice group luncheon at a bar, where I sang a parody with a partner who played a piece on violin; and (3) the all-firm party at a fancy New Orleans eatery, which I was 2 hours late to as I had to get something filed and so I missed most of it anyway, but then went to an after-party with a handful of partners who bought $100 bottles of wine and expensive red meat and seafood, just like I always knew they did! It was fun to be in on the backroom shenanigans, at a private, funky NOLA club. And thank god they didn’t expect my card to get thrown into the pile when they paid . . .
In addition to the parties, my billable time was cut into by the kids getting feverish illnesses. I had Liam at work with me all of one day, as he was symptomatic sans fever for a while and I simply had to get some work done. He was a little soldier, watching movies, eating lunch with me, smiling (see pic above) for a portrait in front of the Christmas tree at my building. I actually had a good day with him.
My sick day with Jack was less fun – Jack gets a lot of anxiety about his illnesses and was really worked up, so we had to stay home. I did get some billing done, as well as some laundry, but he’s more needy. Craig managed to fumble through without ever having a fever on a work day, so thank heavens for small favors.
We had one weekend with friends over for wine and cookie decorating, which was great. They are artists so their cookies were pretty next-level. Our kids’, meanwhile, were frosting with the entire sprinkle canister dumped on top. As they do.
As a break from the holiday madness, we also took a short zoo trip with the same friends, where Craig bested this shaky bridge – – – by grabbing the hand of a strange man and forcing him to walk all the way down to the slide. There is an area at this zoo that has rocks and streams and trees and is basically a contained kid-exploring area, and the boys had a blast with their friend across the street, while the adults just took a few moments relaxing together and chatting.
We got the boys’ hair cut in advance of our trip, and they looked good for about a week, but they’re back to scruffy again.
The next day, I packed up a couple of suitcases and sent these buddies off with their dad to start their holiday early, while I stayed to work a few more days. I’d carefully planned and calculated my remaining time to assure I got everything done in advance of my trip, but of course some issues torpedoed that plan, and I ended up being at work til after 9pm almost every day the boys were gone, which meant I had very little time to pack my own bags, get my house in order, exercise, take a bath – all the self-care stuff I was eager to do while the boys were gone. Litigation (and lawyers who don’t take holidays) really chap my hide sometimes.
Thankfully, however, I was scheduled to take a 14 hour train ride up to join the boys on December 22, and so I couldn’t extend my work time any more. Everyone simply had to work out being without me that day, and the following week – I of course billed a bit and checked in on occasion, but mostly stayed off the radar. Even the long train trip – which stretched to 15 hours, plus another hour in the car on the way home – was glorious, as I was solo. I billed some time, read a couple of books, napped. I had a meal in the dining car, a snack from the snack car, some treats I brought from home . . . and most of my trip I had no seatmate, though in Birmingham I was joined by a young man heading home for Christmas.
I arrived at the in-laws’ place late that night, and settled in for a long Christmas break.