A Stress Free Holiday

A pipe dream? Well, not when it comes to my work this year. For the first time in over a year, I had the details of my next assignment worked out LONG before it started. YAY!! :) I'm working 3 more days, and then I'll be home for TWO WHOLE WEEKS to celebrate Christmas with the fam!! Since the Christmas Day Celebration will be at my parents' house, I'll get to help with the baking - something I truly missed last year. I've already been thinking about cakes to bake! Can you tell that I'm excited?!? There's nothing better than baking during the holidays with my favorite Christmas music in the background - it's the recipe for a perfect day. (go ahead & roll your eyes at that one - I just couldn't help it) :)

I'll be coming back here to Greenville, NC, for a 3 month contract after Christmas. I enjoy working at this hospital, and let's face it - it's easier to stay here than to learn a new hospital, again. :) I'm just hoping that North Carolina doesn't have a record breaking cold winter in 2008!!!! But, even if they do, it's all part of the adventure, right?

On a side note, I had a fun experience this afternoon - one that should NO longer surprise me, but it does every time. Since my current contract is only 3 weeks long, I am staying in a hotel instead of an apartment. The plus side is that someone else comes in to change my linens and bring fresh towels whenever I want. The minus side is that I have to find someplace to go for them to do this. Well, I finished all my errands today before they finished my room, so I decided to work on my Christmas cards in the hotel lobby. While there, an interesting lady who works here (doing what, I'm not quite sure) spotted me sitting there and decided to come "visit". Lucky me! :) Now, to make things even better, I've been working straight nights the last 2 weeks, so being awake and coherent during daylight hours can be somewhat of a challenge. This lady proceeds to tell me her ENTIRE life story - complete with reports of visions of her dead mother "in the green". I have NO idea what that's supposed to mean, and, honestly, I was too scared to ask her for an explanation. I learned of her life, the lives of ALL her siblings (7 of them!), her mother and 12 aunts/uncles, her children, 14 grandchildren, and her stepchildren. Please tell me, what about me sitting alone in the back of the hotel lobby at a table writing Christmas cards BEGS a complete stranger to come and talk for FORTY FIVE MINUTES?!? I honestly don't understand how I get to be so lucky. But, mom you'd be SO proud - I held my laughter in until she left and I could get back into my room. This was quite a feat on my part, considering some of the strange parts of the story which are not appropriate for my "family friendly blog"! Anyway, thank God for having a room to retreat to with a door that closes & locks! Boy, can I attract them! :)

By the way . . .

18 Days & Counting until Christmas!!!!