The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
Mid-December Musings
It seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything. I did recently post the last of those exercise videos from a month or two ago. And my negative cancer screening from a couple of weeks ago. That was a big deal. A huge relief. Other than that, I haven’t had much to say. Part of the reason is the busy season. It’s always hectic from Thanksgiving through the New Year. I’m not sure if I’m going to manage to send Christmas cards this year; I’ve barely thought about Christmas.
Why haven’t I been blogging? Partly it’s the racket from the remodel. Listening to hammers and drills all day is unsettling. Also it’s been a challenging month or two. John and I are fine, don’t worry. But a surprisingly large number of our friends and family are facing challenges right now.
My lighthearted stories aren’t really coming to me. I sat down tonight to write, and didn’t know what to say. I thought I’d glance through my recent pictures for inspiration and it’s not doing it for me.
I’m not depressed. I’m actually happy and relieved to be back in Tucson. There’s just a little bit too much going on right now. Did you know we totally skipped a trip to Mexico? We had paid for our airbnb and everything, but because of changes in John’s work schedule and general stress and exhaustion, we didn’t manage to get down there. We went on a local hike and a day trip to a nearby artsy town instead. It was a good call, and we don’t regret not going on our Mexico trip. But it would have been nice if we had felt up for it.
Christmas is going to be a good time to relax. The house is not ready for guests yet, so the kids aren’t coming for Christmas. It’s a disappointment, but probably good for us to have some time with not much scheduled.
It is nice to have John’s brother and sister-in-law, Dan and Dawn and their kids in town during the winter. We visited them on Thanksgiving, and we realized that we’ve never lived in the same town as family before, except for when the kids were briefly living with us in the Bay Area in 2015. It’s sort of amazing to not have to get on a plane or go on a multi-day drive to visit family.
Here’s a festive picture of the holiday lights at the Tucson Botanical Garden, which is one of the places we went this past weekend instead of the Mexican beaches:
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