Thursday was mellow, as Christmas Eve always is on a work day. Half the company took the day off, so emails were mostly a trickle, and nobody was really waiting on anything to be completed. This is the perfect setting for my being seriously productive.
With my coworker, I finished the film review column, then added my monthly writing tip and a few more edits. Sent it off for the guy who assembles the thing in MailChimp who doesn’t plan to get on it until Monday. In fariness, I was supposed to have it in by the end of Tuesday, so I was a full day and a half late.
I edited and posted a news story on the website and did a little bit of outlining on one of those student profiles.
During my lunch break, I ran a few more Christmas errands. They were a little exhausting, I have to say. In fact, all the Christmas erranding was exhausting this year, not to mention stressful, but my car was running nicely and I had the means this year to get people what I wanted, so my spirits were good even while my nerves were close to fraying.
After work, I vegged a little while, wrapped a few gifts, and drove to my sister’s place in Waipio. She wasn’t home, but my niece was. The niece met me in the parking lot and grabbed gifts for my sister, my nephew, and her from the back seat. We chatted very briefly, but it was good to see her.
That put me in the spirit, as gift delivery always does, so I came home and watched Noelle over dinner.
Breakfast was the last of my leftover quinoa and kale, with some fried eggs and Vienna sausage. Naughty, I know. For lunch I made a large bowl of pasta. Jarred sauce, dried garlic flakes, red pepper flakes, vodka, gorgonzola, brown sugar, and a huge handful of steamed kale. I had leftover, so that was dinner. I also (finally) had the last piece of the strawberry guava pie, two weeks after picking the pie up from the bakery. Whew. Glad that’s done with, and happy for the space it opened up in my fridge.
Crush Girl was delightfully chatty; we texted most of the afternoon and evening about Christmas plans, about which Christmas movies we’d watch, and about our baking projects. She’s quite the avid baker. It was nice and connective, and friendly and Christmassy. Most of the rest of my texting Thursday was practical: working out details with my sister and niece for the gift dropoff.
Mellow mellow mellow with a dash of productivity, a sprinkling of accomplishment, and a twist of Christmas spirit. Not to mention some nice driving on long freeways with podcasts (I wasn’t in the mood for music). A good (nearly merry) Christmas Eve.
Christmas eve reminder to reach out if you need someone to connect with. ‘Tis the season and all that!