Feels like I just left

For maybe an hour or so yesterday evening it looked like I might get one more unexpected but very welcome Christmas present, in the form of one more day away from the office due to inclement weather. But ultimately all the back and forth about whether or not the killer storm would hit our area ended up bearing out the predictions of the earliest models, and it missed us. The hour or so of snowfall in which my hopes began to rise fizzled, and the end result was no more than a dusting. A bit of a drag, and all the moreso because of the unequal distribution of snow up and down the east coast. My poor brother-in-law and his fiancée have plans to spend New Years in Puerto Rico and were supposed to fly out of NYC this morning, but obviously that didn’t happen. If the entire blizzard had been a bust, then I would have been bummed but at least the southerly-bound would have been able to take off on schedule. On the other hand if DC had gotten what NYC got, I’d be writing this from home (if at all). Instead we got the worst-case scenario where no one ends up happy.

So yes, I dragged myself to the bus this morning, and slept basically all the way in rather than even pretending to try to read, but I believe the trip was pretty uneventful because so many people are still on holiday vacation (a theory well-supported by the lack of warm bodies around my own office today, at any rate) and now I am present and accounted for but my head is still in a post-holiday daze, so there’s not much in the way of insightful reflection clamoring to be expressed hereabouts. Mainly what I learned over Christmas is that having a child who appreciates Santa’s gift-bringing (and presents in general) is an essential ingredient in the fundamental feel of the holiday, but it is also fairly exhausting to be the parent in that scenario. Endearing, heartwarming, spirit-affirming and all kinds of good I’m-not-really-complaining stuff, but exhausting nonetheless. And having a mere three-day weekend to celebrate, one day of which gets consumed by making the necessary preparations, doesn’t seem to be enough for me to get through everything without feeling like I’ve been run over by a candy-cane colored steamroller.

Of course the reason why I didn’t take additional time off from work last week or this week is because I am saving up my leave balance for when I really need it come April and the arrival of our newest bundle of joy. And, again, that is a trade-off I whole-heartedly appreciate the wisdom of and one which I have actively chosen and do not feel in any way has been thrust upon me against my will. I will end up cashing in all of my paid time off when the baby is born, and staying home on unpaid FMLA time beyond that as well, and then I’ll go back to work and start accruing time off again … and then next Christmas I will absolutely take more than a day off to make sure I can account for all the seasonally appropriate indulgences as well as the recovery.