...On such a winter's day

Happy New Year guys! You'll have to wait for my 2018 word and goals and plans while I recap December.

I had some kind of mystery illness that had me feeling queasy and incredibly exhausted for over 2 weeks---to the point that I panicked and brought a UPT since the only other time I've felt like this, I've been pregnant. So December kind of sucked and I spent a lot of time kind of zoned out and got way behind and work and home (though G picked up ALL the slack and kept us all going).

I did manage to decorate for the holidays---including solar-powered lights outside which I think I'll keep up through January, baked and decorated gingerbread cookies, made foam kit gingerbread houses, helped organize the PTA winter-fest for the school, and planned out the Christmas (and birthday) gifts. I had to ditch some outings I was looking forward to (because sooooooooo tired).

We did Christmas presents on the 23rd. The boys even wrote Santa to ask him to come early, so he sent an elf!

And then we headed to the airport on the 24th for our long-awaited southern California trip. MIL met us there an hour after we arrived, and all 5 of us had a fantastic and warm week. I'll be honest I was kind of dreading traveling with MIL (because...you know...she's nuts), but is was honestly so amazing to have some kid-free time, it was worth it. We had 2 hotel rooms for 4 of the 6 nights, and she had the kids with her which was quite a nice break!

We did touristy things, swam in heated hotel pools, ate lots of good food, and did 2 days/nights at Legoland (this was B's birthday surprise). We didn't have a cake but stuck a candle in a stack of pancakes for him and called it good enough. G and I managed 2 glorious runs along the bay during the week and my back did NOT hurt after 3 gentle miles, which is encouraging!

What was even more special was what we didn't do...i.e. any work or chores! I tried to remind myself daily to be grateful for the reprieve from cooking and cleaning and laundry and errands and, of course, the work-work of grant-writing and seeing patients and charting...

What we also didn't do was freeze our butts off, but the bitter cold was waiting for us when we got home Saturday night. Good lord it was a shock to the system to go from 70+ to "feels like 5". We spent Sunday getting everything in order---buying and cooking food, cleaning clothes, unpacking. Did nothing special to ring in the new year, though we were awake watching TV.

Yesterday we took the kids to watch The Last Jedi (it was good fun, I really enjoyed it. G and I had actually gone to see it a couple weeks ago but I fell asleep and missed at least 75% of it so it was all brand new to me!). MIL stayed home and cooked, and the house smelled amazing when we returned. Today I'm back at work, breaking in my new pens and planner in between phone calls and emails and making grant-writing spreadsheets.

Back soon with new-years-type stuff because you know I can't resist an occasion for self-improvement!