cheer

thanksgiving was a lovely affair, with mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grammy and two cousins. grammy had a pacemaker put in less than two weeks ago, but she was still up to it. she's a trooper, and loads of fun. it's been wonderful to have a four-day weekend. i'm just at the end of day three and looking forward to one more uncluttered day. i think i'll pop over to the art museum and check out the egypt exhibit. nothing like mummies to make a holiday weekend great.

i've been in my 'downtown' groove, but now that it's officially holiday season i'm again reminded of how much i love my urban life. i was pondering it today as i walked home from a birthday party to meet up with my friend renee. "why" i asked myself "do i like christmas time so much more than i used to?"

aside from the obvious God healing my heart thing, my conclusion was that i enjoy the holidays more than i used to because i am in no way involved in retail sales. even when i was a starbucks barista (four long years! i don't know how i did it for so long) it was all about merch at the holidays. how many espresso machines, mugs, blenders, pounds of bean or any other saleable thing one could peddle. that is what the holidays were all about.

even putting that aside, i deeply resented the 'special holiday drinks' that required so much more stuff on the bar and at the machine. it's really all just one big pain in the bootie. it's been almost three years since i quit the 'bucks, but nothing reminds me more than the holidays how happy i am to have moved on in my life and to be done with retail food service.

happy holidays, everyone!