A day at a time

First day back at work and it feels good after being away via vacation, holidays and work from home during the snow for about three weeks.

The Christmas post-partum is never something I relish. After all, there’s that big build-up for Christmas, all the football games, food, festiveness, family. All good stuff. This year’s Christmas, however, was one of the weirdest in my memory. Firstly, we got what we wished for – a truly White Christmas. Actually, a little too much of the white stuff. I can still see piles of snow in the parking lot outside my office even though the sun is out today. That kind of put a damper on a lot of family activities.

New Year’s Day football was disappointing. Really no great games and fewer than normal because the TV Gods have ruined the impact of that one single day when you could gorge yourself on food, drink and football.  We did fine with the food and drink. But, the games are all strung out now and therefore lose their specialness IMO.

Then, there’s the economy. Christmas was a time when we could kind of put it aside for a bit. But it’s still there. The Christmas shopping season – especially here – was dismal. But, perhaps no worse than was predicted. At least the online guys seemed to do well and that turned out to be my major source of gifts. I didn’t go Christmas shopping other than with my fingertips once. I’m a traditional late shopper and the weather put a kibosh on that.

Our household goods finally arrived and we were able to get somewhat settled before Christmas. But, we’re still digging through several dozen boxes in the garage. Most of them will go into storage. We are still purging and have vowed to keep things trim and under control. On our last trip to the Good Will, we did some shopping though. Sign of the times.

Lots of speculation about when we hit the bottom. And no one really knows. Many are predicting that we’ll get a lift – if not only temporarily – from the change in administration later this month. We’ll have to wait and see on that one. It’s probably awhile before the bad news subsides, however, and we start seeing some good news.

On a final note, one of our dear friends came by yesterday and told us her cancer that had been in remission for 10 years was back and not in a good way. Still more to learn and lots of hope, but she will be No. 1 on our prayer list from now on.