Reflections of the holiday season.
Reflection is a funny thing. At times it can be sweet, terrifying, giddy, hilarious, or sad. With the holidays past me now, I can honestly say that this was a time of mixed emotion for me. At Thanksgiving, my Aunt was in such poor health that my mother was actually convinced that she wouldn't see Christmas. She had me believing the same. When the doctors finally halved the list of 20 medications two weeks before Christmas, the seemingly impossible occured. My Aunt made a visible, while not total, recovery. I volunteered to work the Christmas holidays, which I originally requested off, due to her illness as well as discomfort of missing so many family members.
Work is not going well for me at the moment. I'm frustrated beyond measure for an increasing number of days recently. However, despite this stress, I willingly chose it over the stress that would arise from facing my mother during the holiday season while another relative is ill. My mom is suddenly saddled with the responsibilities and realization that, for all intents and purposes, she is the matriarch of the Hamrick/Reeves clan. She has mentioned to me before that she would rather the whole season pass by in a blink of an eye, which hurts my feelings because my birthday is two days after Christmas. I'm fortunate that she made an attempt this year to celebrate the holiday season. I do believe that my aunt's sudden upswing in condition fueled it. So, after working two strangely busy (and short-staffed) ten and a half hour shifts, I made my way to my home town. In spite of all the stress, rainy weather, and general melancholy we managed to have a wonderful holiday dinner of thai food and an exchange of gifts afterward. My Christmas Eve was made far less lonely than it would've been due to some very special and close friends. Getting to hang out with their family was relaxing and it made me forget to be sad (which is difficult to do).
I never do anything terribly exciting for my birthday. No bar-hopping. No parties. Nothing of that nature. It quite possibly stems from my childhood where no one was ever around for the week of Christmas. It could also be that I have no one to take me out for said bar-hopping and the idea of drinking alone does not excite me. So, I inevitably spend it with my family. This is not a bad thing, but part of me wishes for the "usual" birthday antics that I hear friends and coworkers speak of. This year was no different. My aunt's birthday is the day after mine, so my mom took all of us out to dinner (my sister, aunt, and myself). Although there was a spat that hung a dark cloud of most of the meal, the latter part was rather enjoyable.
New Year's was a quiet affair. My sister, Mechaman, and his girlfriend all sat around playing video games until 11:45pm. From there, we watched Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the countdown and promptly had a bottle of champagne each. Thank goodness that I was able to work from home that next day.
New Year's day brought with it the Sugar Bowl party with the same friends with whom I spent Christmas Eve. The game was a joke, but good times were had and I regretted leaving when I did so I would have some sleep under my belt for work the next day. The really surprising, and incredibly sweet thing was that, when I walked in the door, they started singing Happy Birthday to me. It made my day and my week.
Now it's back to work, recovering from holiday schedules. I wish that I hadn't volunteered to work those holidays, but I did earn six extra days off for 2008. I just feel like I may need to take a week off soon to ensure my sanity and health.
I feel pretty verbose this evening, but this will be the end of my public post. I want to thank all of those who gave me cards or gifts (in whatever form).
Until next time,
~J
Work is not going well for me at the moment. I'm frustrated beyond measure for an increasing number of days recently. However, despite this stress, I willingly chose it over the stress that would arise from facing my mother during the holiday season while another relative is ill. My mom is suddenly saddled with the responsibilities and realization that, for all intents and purposes, she is the matriarch of the Hamrick/Reeves clan. She has mentioned to me before that she would rather the whole season pass by in a blink of an eye, which hurts my feelings because my birthday is two days after Christmas. I'm fortunate that she made an attempt this year to celebrate the holiday season. I do believe that my aunt's sudden upswing in condition fueled it. So, after working two strangely busy (and short-staffed) ten and a half hour shifts, I made my way to my home town. In spite of all the stress, rainy weather, and general melancholy we managed to have a wonderful holiday dinner of thai food and an exchange of gifts afterward. My Christmas Eve was made far less lonely than it would've been due to some very special and close friends. Getting to hang out with their family was relaxing and it made me forget to be sad (which is difficult to do).
I never do anything terribly exciting for my birthday. No bar-hopping. No parties. Nothing of that nature. It quite possibly stems from my childhood where no one was ever around for the week of Christmas. It could also be that I have no one to take me out for said bar-hopping and the idea of drinking alone does not excite me. So, I inevitably spend it with my family. This is not a bad thing, but part of me wishes for the "usual" birthday antics that I hear friends and coworkers speak of. This year was no different. My aunt's birthday is the day after mine, so my mom took all of us out to dinner (my sister, aunt, and myself). Although there was a spat that hung a dark cloud of most of the meal, the latter part was rather enjoyable.
New Year's was a quiet affair. My sister, Mechaman, and his girlfriend all sat around playing video games until 11:45pm. From there, we watched Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the countdown and promptly had a bottle of champagne each. Thank goodness that I was able to work from home that next day.
New Year's day brought with it the Sugar Bowl party with the same friends with whom I spent Christmas Eve. The game was a joke, but good times were had and I regretted leaving when I did so I would have some sleep under my belt for work the next day. The really surprising, and incredibly sweet thing was that, when I walked in the door, they started singing Happy Birthday to me. It made my day and my week.
Now it's back to work, recovering from holiday schedules. I wish that I hadn't volunteered to work those holidays, but I did earn six extra days off for 2008. I just feel like I may need to take a week off soon to ensure my sanity and health.
I feel pretty verbose this evening, but this will be the end of my public post. I want to thank all of those who gave me cards or gifts (in whatever form).
Until next time,
~J