Christmas Vacation

It is officially Christmas vacation. My children won't return to school until 2013. The gifts have been given, the candy canes have been brought home, and we can look forward to more than a week without 6am wakeups.

In years past, the days leading up to this day would have been filled with shopping for many, MANY of "just the right gifts" for multiple teachers and coworkers, but this year, thanks to the freelance life and the rules of the DOE, there have been just a handful of small gifts and some small donations to class gift funds.  For the last few years at One Life to Live, there were unbelievably funny gifts from the group of ADs to many, many of the crew members--umbrellas playing on the uses of rain in the show, tie dye t-shirts commemorating the show's 40th anniversary, traveling bags when we moved to our new studio, water bottles printed with a recap of the year--each celebrating a unity in the midst of all the hard work that actually made it a little sad to go on vacation.
 
This year, it is a quieter transition into the break.  No mad dash to wrap and distribute, or to ready shows for two weeks of air.  Just one day of emails and phone calls and job searching melting into the next.  Except that the world will be on vacation.  Perhaps not everyone--holiday returns still have to be processed, New Year's Eve shows still have to be produced.  But the part of the world that answers emails and reads online applications will likely be enjoying a welcome break.  So, while I may not completely stop forging ahead, perhaps I will grant myself a little break too.

(Don't worry, the break won't be from NotWashedUpYet.  So keep checking daily!)