So, I’m back from a four-day stint on the road. As I turned into my driveway on Friday night, I had just under 29 hours of billable time that I needed to get by the end of the year. Most of that came this week with the remainder the following week. Then, I largely shut down until January 4th. The feeling is actually quite amazing. One thing I love so much about consulting is that if you work hard all year and you get a little lucky, you can take a couple of weeks off in December. It’s a nice feeling to realize your work is done and you are not “slacking” by slowing down for a couple of weeks.
As I sit here on a quiet Thursday afternoon, life is good. My husband had the cats for the four days I was gone and while they are distracting, he did an amazing job getting Doppers over the “crazy hump” – that period of time when he is just relentless about attacking something, usually Twister. Every day, they get just a tiny bit easier. My goal is that by the time we leave for NOLA, Doppers will be trustworthy and the three cats can freely roam the house for the week we’re gone. Otherwise, Doppers will likely need to spend the week mostly in his room as our kitty sitter doesn’t move in for the week.
This past weekend, we did our little tradition of going to cut our Christmas tree. This year, I chose a “Charlie Brown” tree – undersized but with character. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, Doppers has proven to be a bit of a jumper and a climber. A smaller Christmas tree doesn’t encourage those instincts. The second is that we are leaving just before Christmas and won’t get back until just before New Year’s. At that point, I won’t want a lot of fuss to take down Christmas.
But, the point is that we got our tree. We made our usual trek down the hillside to the stand of concolor conifers (think: long, soft needs and a generally “fluffy” tree) and picked our Charlie Brown. I wandered around, looked at multiple trees, asked my husband his thoughts and eventually settled on a tree. It’s up to him to cut it down while I hold the tree steady. A quick load into the Subie, paying for the tree and we are off. Then, we came home and worked on firewood. That’s just how homesteaders roll. We ended up splitting and stacking about a face cord of wood before calling it quits. I did a quick grocery trip run and dinner was an easy-peasy grilled salmon and potatoes and green beans from our garden. After, Darryl made a fire and we sat in front of the tree enjoying the fire, tree and a glass of wine. Christmas, indeed, has begun.
The season around here isn’t a crazy big deal, but it’s a special time. I enjoy this singular focus on home, family and good times. This season, we have a new family member in my nephew-in-law and I believe we are going to get an engagement to celebrate as well. Darryl and I have a new family member in our sweet baby boy who still needs to calm down but is learning to relax ever so slightly. And between today and Dec. 31st, I literally only have less than a few days’ worth of work.
There are a few things left to do. My sisters and I will wrap our crazy little hearts out this weekend as we bought not just for our family but our two adopted families. I need to find one more pair of jeans for Darryl. We need to rent a car and make reservations for dinner when we’re in New Orleans. And I’ll want to make a special meal or two over the next few weeks to celebrate the end of another year.
While work will essentially stop after the next few days, I will take the time to appreciate what I have and what this past year has meant. At times, it has been harder than I thought it could be. I spent a period of time completely overwhelmed by how much we had to do and how hard this homesteading life can be. At other times, I have reveled in the fact that I was actually able to get – and keep – my act together and that life, finally, seemed to be slowing down. Now, as I turn the corner into a new year, I realize that certain things will continue to be different because of the pandemic and that as each December rolls into January, our lives will change along with the calendar. But we made it here and we achieved a year’s worth of goals. It’s time to relax and enjoy.
The Yuppie Homesteader 