Holidays

I love the holidays. Beginning with Thanksgiving and ending with New Years, that month plus of celebration, tradition, time with friends is quite possibly the best time of the year. Ever since I started graduate school I have been looking forward to being done with school in order to celebrate properly. But I have to admit that the work, reading, papers hasn't completely deterred me. little j and I always make a gingerbread house and decorate, Big J and little j put up the lights outside, we all take about half the day setting up the Dicken's Christmas Village, and little j and I bake and decorate cookies for friends, neighbors and family. Imagine what I could do if I wasn't writing my dissertation!

This year feels a bit different because it is the first year we are having family join us for Christmas in Charlottesville. I am really excited to have Big J's brother and partner here to celebrate with us. But of course I have a list of things I feel like I need to get done such as: cleaning up some painting things around the house, cleaning a lot, and ideally I would like to paint the kitchen but I think we all know that isn't going to happen. I'd also like to clean the carpets. So, I have all those things I want to do and we are making gifts for family and friends that we haven't started.

But here's the kicker: I promised Big J that over the next three weeks I would work exceptionally hard on my dissertation. So if I am going to do that (in addition to the hours I put in for my research assistantship) it seems highly unlikely that I will be able to accomplish even half of what I would like. (Oh, did I mention that I have at least 3, if not more, job applications to finish within that same time?) Oh my . . .