Haiatus

Well, I didn't post for a while. The beginning of December brought Hell's wrath with it--finishing projects for my class, state testing, not to mention I still had to teach. Somehow I emerged from it all on the 17th still able to catch a flight home for the holidays. Home was blissful--far from the soul erosion that is my normal daily life. I finally got to see & play with Junior. What a sweet baby! He has gigantic blue eyes like searchlights and he loves to look around--in fact, he hates to be held in such a way that he can't look around--he won't let you do it--and he hates to go to sleep because it means he has to close his eyes. He is such a sweetheart and he wrapped his auntie around his little finger so fast.

One quick story about holiday shopping:

Before I went home, Thomas and I were out one day. He had taken me to a gallery to see some pottery that he liked a lot. After admiring the pottery, I was just looking around and I found the funniest little pewter pin. Just a small pewter square with a little jingle bell attached, and stamped on to it, it said "As Merry as I Get." Ha ha ha, I thought it was great, and as I picked it up to show Thomas, I noticed the $46 price tag. Gagging, I turned the price tag forward and said "Not that merry." We rolled our eyes, and the person working there, who had heard us from the back, came out laughing. "What does it say?" she asked, explaining that there was so much stuff in there that she couldn't keep up with everything. I showed it to her, and she just chuckled. She had thought she had heard me read "Not That Married." Which is probably a pin that someone would buy too.

One of the fantastic things that happened over the holiday was the discovery that Billy Collins has released another collection of poetry. Hooray! I grabbed one up for Amilynne, and, so as not to gift her a used book, I grabbed one up for myself as well. Splendid as usual.

But the best thing happened on the way home. Friday morning, Dad took me to the airport, and after I said goodbye to him at the security checkpoint, I went up to my gate and cried and cried. I was heartbroken to be leaving. They boarded us on the plane, and I sat there with tears running down my face, and then a Christmas miracle happened--they asked for 12 volunteers to bump--heavy snow in Minneapolis meant they had to take more fuel and fewer passengers. My hand shot up and I got off that plane as fast as I could. I got them to let me stay through Sunday (which I didn't do in the first place because it cost so much more than leaving on Friday), and I got a voucher for a round trip ticket to boot. Hooray! I get to go home again this summer! For free! I called home for dad to come get me and the next two days were great.

So that's a month in a few words. Too much shopping, and a bit of extra time at home. And now, if all goes well, I'll finish my master's degree in a year or so and I'll be that much freer. Commence the countdown.