The free spirit has been captured

Well, the festivities of Christmas and the new year really swept me up like a winter storm. As alluded to in the previous post, I thoroughly enjoyed the annual caroling trip with my church. We sing carols and deliver fruit baskets to the widows and home-bound of our membership. This year, however, we made a couple of "extra" stops, one to a 10-year old girl who had been hospitalized at the university medical center for 7 or 8 months. She has recovered and went back to school yesterday for the first time in 10 months. God is so good!!!

As many others, Christmas was full of family, FOOD, and fellowship. It is always nice to reconnect with family, most of who live within a 30-mile radius but who I never see. That's a sad commentary, isn't it?!?! Knight and I had a "grown-up" New Year's Eve...we went to church, afterward watched football with my family until LSU totally blew away their opponent, and then went home and entertained ourselves with an Office Marathon. We love The Office.

The spirit of celebrating continued with my birthday!! It was a "grown-up" birthday. I did a little sewing; for those of you who don't know, sewing is a new-found hobby of mine. Knight's birthday gift to me was The Office - Season 4!!! May the Office marathon continue!!! Then, we joined the family for birthday dinner at Chili's. I must admit that "grown-up" occasions are not filled with the surprise and wonder that used to surround these occasions, which is a bit saddening to me. Is that part of growing up??

Now, after 2 weeks of celebations, sleeping in, and doing what I want when I want to do it, I'm back at the workplace!! I know...I can hear the sighs corporate America bursting forth!! I know you think we are a bunch of whiners, but I see our 2-week Christmas break as part of the balancing act of taking a very low-paying state job. It's one of the perks, you see. I have been fortunate enough to ease back into the work routine, so my complaints are minimal. I must remind myself that I am very blessed and grateful to have such a good job, despite the low pay, where I enjoy my job duties and coworkers. Next week, classes resume and then I'll have may crazy schedule again. So, corporate America, let me enjoy the relaxed atmosphere for one more week!!