Busiest. Vacation. Ever.

It seems like the vacation has been a whirlwind of events and travel!

Let's tally up all the holiday gatherings that took place at separate locations and times.

1. Pre-Christmas shopping with my mom, to celebrate my first day of "retirement."
2. Christmas eve with my husband (since he had to work the holiday).
3. Christmas morning with my paternal grandparents.
4. Christmas day with my immediate family.
5. Christmas late night with my husband.
6. Christmas with my family and maternal grandparents.
7. Christmas with husband's family and friends.
8. Christmas with husband and my family.
9. New year's eve party (which was still decorated as a Doctor Who/Christmas party).
10. Jan 1st birthday at my house.
11. (Next week:  birthday visit from my brother, party for my last day of work, birthday visit to my parents' house and a drive-by gifting at friend's house.)

Next year I need to try to get everybody in the same place at the same time!  Schedules have just been really hard to blend, but I feel blessed that I got to see so much family.

The Christmas puzzle was really hard this year!

I am amazed that it doesn't feel like I've left my job yet.  

I think I've only spent 3 days out of 14 without seeing family or friends, and those days have been filled to the brim with preparing for holiday gatherings.  I'm still sending work-related emails and updating work documents in spare moments, as well as researching for my impending Etsy store.  I also haven't been able to symbolically burn my work-countdown chain because of all the darn Spare the Air days, so it is still there, symbolically taunting me.  Where'd that paper shredder go?

A surprisingly large amount of people who know I'm now free are popping up asking for my time.  I really appreciate the desire to hang out (especially since my social life has been severely neglected), but the things people are asking for are things I need to do in my own life first before I can help out.  As rude as it sounds I gotta be a little selfish here:  I've spent the past 3 years draining myself to the bone keeping other people happy and suppressing my own needs, and I am completely burnt out. 

I still have hives and all the other lovely medical issues from that stressful period which means my blood levels of cortisol are still too high... I am kind of using the hives' intensity as a gauge for how recovered I am.  Just a little break first.  Starting January 13th after the festivities have died down, it's time to enjoy a rare and treasured short period of zero responsibilities/deep relaxation/erasing the sleep debt, and sleep is coming so easily these days.  I promise I'll emerge from my hermitty cocoon as a social butterfly.  Or a social bat... I'm a little nocturnal. 


How was your vacation, if you got one?