Catching my Breath

At last I have time to catch my breath. This month has been ridiculously hectic for someone who doesn't really celebrate the December holidays in a big way. I don't know what possessed me to think that going on vacation two weeks before Christmas was a good idea, except that one year we went from the 11th to the 18th and it was wonderful -- we missed a good chunk of the nonsense, and it just didn't feel as hectic. But this year, heavy workload meant that all the prep work -- lining up the pet/housesitter, packing, trying to get this absolute mess of a house picked up somewhat, had me so aggravated, I thought it would be stressful to just not go.

But the miraculous soul-healing powers of Jamaica were exactly what I needed, though I didn't know it at the time. Those of you who want to see vacation photos are out of luck, because there aren't any. For the most part, I prefer to live life rather than photograph it, and we have so many years of sunset photos from Negril, I hardly know what's what anymore. And after we're gone, who's going to care about our vacation photos? No one. So why not just enjoy? But if you want to see where we stayed, I recommend Danny and Nicole's excellent travel report site, which was the impetus for us staying at Sunset at the Palms this year.

The day after we returned was my Sixth Annual Holiday Cookie Bake-Off, a tradition in which my oldest friend and I get together, bake batches of cookies, package them up to give to friends and relatives, and cap off the day by asking ourselves why the hell we do this. Then there was my department all-day nosh at work -- another tradition I put together four years ago, which allows me to cook for a party without having to clean the house.

But now it's all behind me, and I can finally relax and get caught up on some other things -- like what's going on in the world. This week there has been so much news, and no time to write about it. And next week we'll have the second annual Brilliant of the Year list, featuring those individuals and groups in politics and culture who made a difference this year.