Too bad I can't push a rewind button!

I don't know what it is about vacation that makes me lazy. I mean, sure, the definition of vacation is 'not working', but often the feeling of 'not accomplishing anything' leaves me unhappy. When I'm working, I look forward to doing ABC (including blogging), etc... And when I get to those unscheduled, free days, eehhh, I don't care anymore.

Maybe because I only have two days left?

Last Wednesday was my final exam for the first term. My French 3s did well, but APs did terribly (1 A, several B-, too many Cs)!! I considered curving it, but after reviewing their mistakes, I decided not to be the hero and let them hate me. Afterall, it's not like anyone asked me for extra review or outside practice. I'm over it, and I can handle their glares come Tuesday. The following day was a day of torturous grading and comment-writing.

On Friday, I hit the road to visit my great friends Eric and Betsy in NC. Driving 8 hours and laughing to David Sedaris on CD was a cathartic experience. My stay was an even better feeling than turning in my grades for the term. I love my friends, and I'm so thrilled to celebrate with them as they prepare for their first child!

When I came back home Monday, I was so inspired to deep clean the house and re-organize our closets, not because I am nesting, but because Eric is. Aaaahhhh. Wonderful. Beautiful closet space.

Where did that energy go? Must have been the turkey. Wednesday's drive to NY was the worst Thanksgiving traffic ever. It nearly doubled our driving time, and the number of cops and dead deer stressed me out. But, being with family was fantastic, and I especially enjoyed meeting our two new cousins (ages 4+5) that are being adopted into our family. What a special time for us all! I counted 22 adults, 4 children, 4 dogs, 3 turkeys, 7 pies, and 0 disaster!

Black Friday was Matt and my special date day. It did not start at 3am, but rather a lazy morning with Nutella-covered waffles and good coffee. Eventually, we ventured out to some shopping centers to buy ourselves a camera. Even at 10:30-11am, the parking lots were quite full, and we gladly kept our car at a safe distance from the shoppers at Best Butt and Walfart as we like to call them. Stuck in line waiting to find a spot yielded some interesting sights, including a young boy (7-9?) with his finger up to the second knuckle deep into his nose. What can you say? Shopping can make you hungry! Target was crazy, as was the mall. Santa was around, but he wasn't all that popular. Auntie Ann's pretzels generated a far longer line.

Lunch called us back home as Matt made a pizza and I put up the Christmas tree. Since we're spending a good part of December with my family, I simplified the decorations and put gold ribbon around the tree with my white lights and a few of our favorite new ornaments: Kandern one, NYC apple one, wooden Vermont complete with moose, world's greatest teacher (for morale). We listened to seasonal music and ordered our camera online.

We went back out to walk around downtown and hit up the library, a few stores, and a restaurant. Parking was impossible, and just as we were about to chalk it up to Black Friday madness, we stumbled upon the town's tree lighting ceremony. Matt said it was all part of his plan (oh, really?), so we stood among the crowd, listening to a holiday brass band, then a high school acapella group sing carols. We even saw Santa on a roof top!! After about an hour, we were so cold and ready for that amazing Indian food. YUM!! Why hadn't we gone here before? Idiots!

Not that we were hungry afterwards, but the exitement of the day prompted a childish candy-buying decision before showing up for our movie. Thanks Grandma for those tickets! We watched "The last 3 days" with Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson. I really liked it, even though we were stuck in the front rows, and Matt didn't think it was all that realistic. True, but I just love the drama and suspense!

What a perfect day! We couldn't have been happier to leave our books and computers behind us and spend every minute together.