Some might say...

...that the most wonderful time of the year is that magical few weeks right before Christmas. And I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but I might also refer to the quiet...albeit brief...season that follows as refreshingly marvelous itself. It's that time of year where, among other things, I finally find a few minutes here and there to resurrect my blog from the depths of neglect and promise myself that I won't let it happen again. About four people even read this blog, but at least those four people love me enough and know me well enough to forgive my blogging indiscretions.

And, just so you all know, if you think this blog has been neglected, you should see my closet. And my office. And my pantry. And my refrigerator. And the corners of my bathroom floors. And my children's bedrooms. And my van. And that's just the short list. Ugh.

Thankfully, for both your sakes and mine, blogging is infinitely more enjoyable than cleaning. So this comes first. The kids went back to school today. And I went back to bed. That's right. I went back to bed. I have burned the candle at both ends and in the middle for so long that I had to go buy a new candle. So one of my first New Year's resolutions was to give myself some down time this week. As much as I deplored sending the kids off to school and succumbing to scheduled life again, I thoroughly enjoyed throwing a load of laundry into the washer, grabbing a bagel and watching Regis and Kelly in bed, and curling up under my electric blanket for a nice long morning nap. Judge me if you must, but I don't feel the least bit guilty.

It's been an insanely busy couple of months around here. As in one of the top ten most overwhelming seasons of my life kind of busy. Long story short, my photography business took off, and so did our adoption fundraiser. And I am extremely thankful. Overwhelmed, but very, very thankful. I'll write more about that later, but suffice it to say that I edited many a photo until my retinas burned and I fell face first asleep on my keyboard and I'm still finding errant scraps of tulle stuck to clothes...and the dog. All that on the heels of marching band season and in the midst of the Christmas season. If ever a time confirmed my lack of sanity in choosing my undertakings...and my gift for not going down without a fight...this might have been it.

We made it through, though. Not to say there weren't things that didn't get done. Plenty of that, my friends. But the things that mattered most were accomplished. And I am ever so grateful to have a bit of time to reorganize, rethink and renew. As it so happened, way back in the summer we planned a Christmas week getaway...something we've never done before...and, as much as it caused me to just about lose my mind in getting out the door...those few days were some of the most relaxing vacation days I've ever enjoyed.

So you must be dying to know where we went, right? I'll keep you in suspense till my next post, but I'll give you a couple of hints...LOTS of snow. Arctic, even. And not a Santa to be found in a 50-mile radius.