Advent IV - The Light Returns

Yes, I am here, slowly surfacing after gruelish work weeks and very busy weekends filled with family celebrations. We had a lovely party for The Little One's 13th birthday, and we ate our fill of the cupcakes and all sang Christmas songs while we decorated the gingerbread cookies.

At work today, we met with our new boss, and learned of more and more changes in the company, most of them portents for more work, more hours, same pay. Enough said in that regard!

Now I am home until New Year's Eve. Tonight I finally had time to open all the packages that we ordered on line as gifts. Everything is here and in one piece, so tomorrow I'll begin wrapping presents. But first I'm taking most of the day for myself. I don't know what I'll be doing but it will involve some window shopping, at least one latte, some knitting, maybe even a trip to the yarn store.

Stan ordered the seafood for Christmas Eve, and I have some grocery shopping to do tomorrow because some lame teacher decided that Thursday, the day before Christmas Eve you insufferable pedantic, would be a good time for the kids to have a cultural celebration for which they must make an ethnic dish. My darling signed up for lasagna, so add that to the ever-growing to-do list (and no, she informed me, it can't be Stouffers, to which I replied via a Bronx cheer.)

My, I am a whiny bitch tonight, no? That brings me to my fourth Advent essay, which has appropriately enough, the shortest essay, since it is the shortest day of the year, and the return tomorrow to the light. I can see the light at the end of this long tunnel of a year. The husband is slowly getting better. He's had some excellent days and some lousy days (like today), but so far the progression has been more good days than bad. All the kids are home from college and all appear to be in good spirits and have decent grades. I have learned to view my life in these small increments,  to respect the tenor of the day and not try to will it away, and to relax into the flow. I've realized over the last two weeks that I am profoundly affected by the stress of work and family and that I need to put away the laptop, shut the TV, hang up the phone, even put down the books, and draw. Yes, simply draw. I can feel the tightness in my chest running out through my hand as I pick up the pen and concentrate on the object or person before me.

So for the next week that I have off, I am making it my intention to draw each day and to get art work scanned in so this blog can resume its proper place as an "illustrated blog" and the emphasis on creativity in all manners of things can resume its rightful place.

Thank you, dear readers, for sticking with me when it seemed all I had to offer was tears and pleas for prayers. Thank you for all your posts and comments and shared experiences and funny jokes and for making me laugh and even pointing out the sisterly jibs and jabs in the comments sections.

I promise that pomegranatesandpaper will remain for another year, that it will return to featuring art work and celebrate the creative, and that I will offer you my own peculiar and pretty myopic view of life in the middle aged, over worked, overweight fast lane.