Silent Night

It's almost 10:00 p.m. My son left about an hour ago, and my friend left about ten minutes ago. She was alone for Christmas, so I invited her to spend the day with us. One thing I've learned, and probably mentioned here on multiple occasions, is that time is the best gift. My son had planned on spending today with his girlfriend -- and me, as I was supposed to be going to his house -- but put that plan aside to come to my house. When he apologized for not having had much money to spend on gifts, I told him there was no better gift he could have given than spending the day with me. We didn't do much of anything; I still had to keep an eye on the little dog even though she seems to feel much better. We had some champagne drinks early on, made brunch, chatted, Skyped with the rest of the family for nearly two hours, had dinner, and played Yahtzee. It was just perfect.

Now it is quiet and calm, and I've already decided to put away all the Christmas decorations soon, maybe tomorrow. It isn't that I don't like Christmas; it's just that this has been a weird year and I'm ready to get on with next year. I bought a Groupon for a spa package, and I'm going to try to get an appointment to use it this week. My end-of-year plan is to relax and pamper myself in little ways. Next year I'll have to get back to business, but for this last week of 2016, I have very little to do -- and I'm going to enjoy every second of doing very little.