Christmas Eve Day. A day full of excitement, anticipation, joy and just my favorite day of the year! Most of this love of the day stems from the idyllic times of my childhood. And even though, I now enjoy the holiday on my own with my pets, it is still a most favorite day filled with remembrance and just general joie de vivre!

This year, I am especially enjoying the day. For the last 3.5 weeks my work life has been INTENSE. A series of circumstance pushed a deadline forward and the programming team had to go into serious overdrive. As I commented to another: “a tough schedule for an old broad” (ME!). We delivered at the last moment on Friday and although we will probably do some firefighting in January, mostly it was mission accomplished.

The thought of a good amount of downtime over the holiday break kept me going. Also the necessary breaks to walk/play/snuggle with Auggie and Emmett. Often, when I thought I couldn’t possibly stop, but knew I must for them … the time with them, mostly outside in the fresh air, allowed me to come back to work with a fresh perspective and get a 2nd, 3rd and 4th wind!

Ultimately, as challenging as the pace was, there was also an incredible feeling of accomplishment as well as the comradery of working with a team that I respect and enjoy. So. Job.Well.Done. and now we enjoy before the next stage.

Saturday was sunny and bright and although lacking in snow, it was a perfect day for a run to town to gather a few things I wanted, before a spell of Winter Weather arrived.

Saturday … a day with no work and pretty weather was just “ahhhhh”. And I slept so well Saturday night with NO programming conundrums disturbing my dreams. So, Sunday, was a day of relaxing and anticipation.

Now, here we are on Christmas Eve Day… but wait … some fun from last week:

In illustration of why, once again, we do not have a “real” Christmas tree…

No harm done to the little silk tree.

Auggie’s wound has closed with no issue.

I don’t know, but it was funny!

This morning’s most perfect fire in the woodstove!

It was a gray day – perfect for enjoying inside, but we also got outside!

A wonderful day.

Inside.

Outside.

Christmas music in the background.

Joy.

Christmas Eve Day.