Happy New Year!!!

Christmas came and went this year.  I had a great time.  I seemed to have more energy this year, so that made the whole thing more enjoyable.  I wrapped every little thing that went in the stockings in addition to the presents that I bought.  Delise made Cornish Game Hens for Christmas Eve dinner with stuffing and roasted Brussels Sprouts.  The stuffing had apples in it which was surprisingly good.  It was probably the best stuffing I have ever had.  We had a great time on Christmas morning unwrapping every little thing one at a time and taking turns.  It took forever to open all the presents, but that made it all the more fun.  I bought mom a grandmother's ring for Christmas that has the birth stones of all her grandchildren in it.  It turns out that the birth stones of our "little" ones go together really well.  There's one blue, one diamond, two pink and one ruby.  Mom and I had talked about getting a ring early in the year, and I had a feeling that she was expecting it, so I told her that I hadn't gotten one (and that wasn't really a lie, because I hadn't bought it at the time I told her that), then on Christmas morning, I hid the little box in the branches of the Christmas Tree and handed out all the presents except that one.  We opened all the presents and ate breakfast, then I sat on the couch and said "hey, what's that?  It looks like Santa left something else in the tree."  Then I pulled out the box and gave it to her.  It was really fun to surprise her.

I had the week between Christmas and New Year's off from work, so I checked into a Hotel on Monday using my Hilton Points and stayed in a hotel this week.  I came home every day and did some cooking and cleaning, then went out for some pampering and went back to the hotel to sleep.  It was a great week.  One of the pampering things I did was get my eyelashes tinted black.  I think I'm hooked!  It looks like I wake up every morning wearing mascara.  It's not totally noticeable to the innocent bystander, but I sure can see the difference, and it makes me smile every morning to wake up and actually look like I have eyes.  That may just become part of my normal pampering routine.

As for New Year's "Resolutions" I'm not making any this year.  Instead, I'm going to set one goal at the beginning of each month and work on that one thing until it becomes a habit.  For January, my goal is to start getting ready for bed each night by 10:00pm.  I have been staying up way too late, and I need to change that habit so it's not so hard for me to get up early when I travel for work.

A couple goals I have in mind for future months are: to play the piano every day that I am home and write in my journal or on my blog every day.  I'm sure I'll come up with others as time goes on.

I've been off work since December 22nd, and it has been wonderful.  I dread going back to work, which is very unlike me.  I have loved my job up until I started this new study.  If something thing doesn't change soon, I think I will have to make a move to a different company.  Work takes up so much of my life, that it's not worth being in a job that makes me so unhappy.  I have 2 more glorious days off work.  I guess I had better spend part of one of them updating my resume and getting it out there for the world to see.  The new year is going to bring great things, one way or another.