Holiday Craziness...

Well, it's here.  The craziness has ensued, and once again I wonder... how did I let this happen??!

Each year, I try to schedule less & less, and yet, we seem to be busier & busier.  How does that happen?  I don't know, but it does.

Once again, I've been so blessed with people wanting their pictures taken!  Business has been great and it's kept me very busy during the "Christmas Card" season.  The people I meet are phenomenal.  I love my clients!!  I just wish I could clone myself -- I'd be able to do more shoots & edit that way.  :)  And can I throw in that I am absolutely LOVING receiving Christmas Cards from my awesome clients?  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!  :)

So here we are, December 14th, and I still am not anywhere near having my shopping done!  I just finished editing & delivered my last photo shoot before the holidays last night.  Up until then, I'd been editing photos consistently for about 2 weeks.  Whew!

My family's Christmas is this weekend, and I have most everything for that event... after that, I'm kinda hosed.  This next week will be the marathon sprint to the finish line, otherwise known as Christmas.  In the midst of this, I'll have my parents here for a week, Brandon's "Winter" class party, baking, wrapping, and anything else that falls into the "holiday crazy" category!

My parents leave on the 22nd, and we have a 3 day respite.  Respite?  Respite is defined as:

res·pite/ˈrespət/

Noun:

A short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant. A short delay permitted before an unpleasant obligation is met or a punishment is carried out.

We have 3 days... however, I doubt there will be any resting involved!  Those days will be running around frantically, doing last-minute Christmas things, doing Christmas... and me doing food prep.

Food prep, you ask?  (This is where you all say "ah yes, she really IS crazy.")  On the 26th, the entire Hoke family will be at my house for their family Christmas.  And I wouldn't be me unless I put on the whole spread...turkey, ham... the works.  There will be 20 of us under one roof... and 14 spending the night.  My sister-in-law, Melissa, and I have already decided we'll have our own "sippy cups" (read: bottles) to nurse throughout the whole ordeal.  ;)  

So there you have it.  My sprint, jog, walk, drag-myself-across-the-finish-line holiday season.  The older I get, the more I want to celebrate Christmas in mid-January.  I mean, virtually NOTHING happens in January.  The weather is yucky (at least in Indiana), and everyone is stuck inside.  And, you get a little breather from Thanksgiving.  And while we're on the topic of Thanksgiving, is it just me, or is the span of time between Thanksgiving & Christmas getting shorter & shorter?  Or is it that I wish I was still a kid & didn't have any concept of time or stress or shopping or or or... ya, that's probably it.  ;)

Happy Holidays!!!