Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brought everyone what they asked for and y’all are surrounded by loved ones.

They let us out of work at noon on Friday; the legislators scampered out to get an early start on their holidays, freeing us legislative counsel to as well. This week has been a delight at work–although the workload has been steadily ramping up (a foretaste of what’s to come), which has nudged me a bit behind on my December “Things to Do”/”Hamsters to Fling” list. Nearly every morning, I’d come in to find a little Christmas surprise on my desk: festive cards, a bag with gloves and candy, a tin of chocolate goodies, a lovely journal tied with a golden bow. Or one of my co-workers would come round that day with a thoughtful gift: Christmas socks, a platter of cookies. And we had a food day on Wednesday: cheesecake, cookies, cake, humus, stuffed olives. I’m so very fortunate to be able to work with such wonderful people.

fosteronfilm and I dropped Hobkin off with his godmother yesterday for Skunk Christmas Camp and made the grueling, 14-hour drive to Illinois to spend Christmas with his family. I expected there to be snow, but it’s been unseasonably warm. We drove through some rolling fog banks, and it’s rather cloudy here, but no snow. Hoping it stays that way, at least for the week.

Today we feast, and tonight we open prezzies. May everyone’s holiday be joyous and warm.

   

Writing Stuff
This is something of a working holiday for me. I’ve got much to wrap up before next week and the New Year as I prep for the beginning of the Legislative Session.

New Words:
– 900 words on my Writing for Young Readers column. The plan is to finish and email it off to my editor tomorrow.

Received:
– 7-day “nice writing but no grabbie” from JJA of F&SF. Alas, not the Christmas present I would’ve wished for from Hoboken, NJ.