Now What?

Many weeks of looking forward to my trip and then the trip itself gave me a lot to look forward to. Now that I'm back home -- and happy to be here; I had just the right amount of time away -- I don't know what to do with myself. Over the past few years, I haven't done much Christmas decorating, so I may get going early with that. Funny, my drop-off in putting out my holiday items seemed to coincide with the last of my sons moving out. Last year I didn't bother at all; we were spending Christmas at my oldest son's house and my mom was very ill. We weren't even here for the holidays. This year, as we plan to have one last Christmas at my mom's house, I don't want my house to be a decoration-free zone. I've decided to get a small tree and trim it much earlier than I ever have before, maybe on Thanksgiving. But even combined with the busy work schedule I have coming up, that won't take a lot of time. So what do I do?

My dining room table is stacked with gifts, some wrapped and some not. I ended up shipping boxes back from Santa Fe, and most of what I bought was Christmas gifts. If that weren't the case, I might be going through a bit of sticker shock as I scan my bank statement. I spent a lot of money! One good thing about traveling when I did (or maybe it was a bad thing, not sure yet) is that I didn't really buy souvenirs, just gifts. And they're all nice, unique gifts, not junky tourist stuff.

I just had a brilliant idea of what to do that will be fun and productive! I'm going to learn to cook the New Mexican foods I enjoyed so much when I was traveling. As far as I know, there aren't any restaurants nearby that serve that type of food, and I think my kids will enjoy it too. I have some spices coming (in one of the boxes I shipped home) and I can make it a new mission to find ingredients locally -- or find them online. We have Mexican food stores here in Florida, of course, but New Mexican cooking is different and uses ingredients that may be harder to find.

So now I have some plans to get excited about -- again. I also want to write about my trip more extensively, focusing on the "solo female traveler" aspect. Too many women are hesitant to travel alone, and I'd like to share my experiences to help them feel more comfortable. But that's another topic for another day.