Today was the first day of my Winter Break. Woohoo! I had a relaxing day of Christmas music, grading chemistry tests and physics catapult papers (tests are now done and got 7 papers graded – trying to get at least 5 done a day), and tormenting the cat. Leo, the cat in question, is currently sleeping on my computer desk, worn out from his day of intensive napping. Poor bebe!

Wish I had a Santa hat for him – I’d put it on him now and take a picture. judiang, when you come next week, bring your Santa hat! We’ll get Leo to pose! 🙂

As you can figure, I have the entire week before Christmas off. So what will I do with myself? I have a number of tasks:

• Hide the wires for my 5.1 speakers so they don’t show in the front door
• Finish grading the physics catapult reports
• Work on the family cookbook update (must be done by Dec 26)
• Spend a day at the school working on getting caught up from summer tasks
• Pick out Baking Day recipes
• Bake lots of goodies on Baking Day with mom
• Work on the school website EDIT: not a priority at all
• Vacuum and dust the place (gonna have visitors)

The goal is to complete all of these tasks by Christmas (or earlier). After Christmas, I’ll be doing family & friends 24/7, pretty much. Mom’s side of the family will gather on Boxing Day. My cousin who is a Marine and his wife (whom we see every other year or so) will be there – yay! They’ll be the first recipients of the updated cookbook. judiang and elsaf will come on Monday (hopefully Elsa will be able to come – hope her mom gets well and fast!) and we’ll have our gift exchange then. Tuesday, I intend to take the girls on a tour of Tippy City and maybe we’ll catch a movie. Wednesday, we lose Elsa (*sniff*) but gain Amy & Rachel (yay!) That evening, we’ll be having “Christmas Eve” at Granny’s (dad’s side of the family). After a number of all night card playing sessions, Judi’s as much family as the others, so she’ll be joining in the gift exchange and merriment. Judi and the girls will spend the night with me (Amy and I have spent every “Christmas Eve” together and intend to maintain the tradition at least one more year). Thursday morning will be “Christmas” and we’ll have the family gift exchange. Judi will attend and I hope to get Leo over (again) for at least a little while. He LOVES playing in the wrapping paper and boxes. And Grammar & Gram pa’s house is fun to explore.

We have some ideas for how to spend Thursday evening and Friday day, but who knows what will transpire. Friday evening, however, is the preserve of Trina’s New Year’s Eve Party! Judi, the girls, the folks, Granny, Becky, Deanna and possibly her boyfriend Tim and friend Abby, will all come over for a night of cards, food, and fun. We’ll welcome in 2005 with gusto (and sparkling grape juice) and I’ll turn 34. Saturday is Trina’s parade (which airs live and uncut on HGT again this year – wot!) Mom’s gonna make pork & kraut (much the way her mom always did every New Years) and has invited her side of the family to join us. Alas, that evening, Amy & Rachel head back home. I get Judi for one more day, at least. But on Monday, I return to work.

So this week off is a good thing. After the week is over, I get to OD on family & friends. One of my favorite holiday experiences. 🙂