Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays

     It's Christmas morning and I thought I'd write a few words on my blog before we start the day's festivities. Its just the dogs, my husband and me at home this year. That's unusual for us because normally we're either at his Mother's, in any one of several locations with my family or someone is here with us.

   

    Because of that, we didn't do much decorating this year. Instead of the big tree in the living room, I put a table in the corner and put our 3' tree on it. It only takes about 10 minutes to put that tree up. I put a small fiber optic tree in the den and covered the mantle with my Santa Claus dolls and statues. I put a few Nativity sets on the mantle in the living room and I put the Christmas quilt on the dining room table. That's it, all done. (Should be easy to take it all down too.)

    After we open presents, we'll cook a ham for dinner, call all the relatives and watch some Christmas movies and probably some football.

    I hope you have a fun day and enjoy the holiday season to its fullest.

     I'm taking some time out from Christmas preparations to update the blog. I just about finished my Christmas shopping yesterday (just one person left to buy for) and got everything wrapped but still have to get it all boxed up and ready to ship. This is very late for me this year and there's a chance the boxes may not make it in time for Christmas as I only have one day to spare.
    We just put together the Christmas letter which is always a challenge because my husband writes one from his point of view (even though the cards are supposed to be from both of us) and then I edit it to include me and to take out the parts that I think are in poor taste and/or mean. Then he gets mad because he thinks I made it too wordy and boring. So I get mad because he thinks I have no sense of humor and so on. This year I think he just gave up. This morning I updated the Christmas card mailing list and printed the labels. I'll be working on Christmas cards all day most likely.
    We invited several people over for Christmas day including my sister and her family and one of my husband's (and my) friends. I have to have someone here to play games with me! So this week will be dedicated to cleaning, putting out some decorations (haven't done any of that yet) and cooking.
    I keep thinking how different next year will be when I will have my days free to work on all this stuff. But then other retired people seem to be just as stressed trying to get everything done. I'm sure I'll be different (yeah, un-huh). Only eight more working days to go!

    I realized today that next Friday will be the last working Friday for me. I have 13 more working days left over four weeks but with Christmas and New Year's Day falling on Fridays, I only have to work one more full week. The reality of retirement is just starting to hit me. I've been playing at cleaning out my office but today I got serious about it and brought home two bags of stuff. Believe me, there's much more to do.
    Maybe it had something to do with my boss sending out a notice for my reitrement party. Since then I've been getting calls and emails from people I've worked with over the years. Its rather bittersweet. I'm sad to think of the many talented and enjoyable co-workers with whom I may never cross paths again. I'd like to keep in touch with so many of them but the reality is that its hard to do and not likely to happen with many of them.
    The other thought that keeps going through my mind is whether I will still want to travel after I am retired. For me and I think most working people, retirement has always meant living in a low stress world. Vacations were a way to experience that world for a short time. Retirement was also a time when I could travel widely without a deadline. So now I wonder if I will still find travel to be low stress or will my everyday life be so stress-free that traveling will feel stressful. I guess only time will tell.

    I was sick with a cold all week and am just finally getting to feel normal again. We had plans to go to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan this weekend but I had to cancel becasue of my illness. We were going with two other couples to see the village Christmas festivities which were outdoor of course with the temperatures expected to be in the teens. My husband rustled up a substitue and went off without me (it was pre-paid). I'll just have to go another year.

   I spent yesterday watching basketball (UK beat North Carolina) and football (Alabama beat Florida) and looking for a cruise to take somewhere warm next year. I got a good deal on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas which is a Freedom Class ship which used to be the biggest and fanciest in their fleet until the Oasis of the Seas came out just this month. I guess everyone wants to go on the Oasis so there are good deals to be had on the other ships. I'll have a surprise for my husband when he gets home today.