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Sometime late yesterday evening, it occurred to me that it was Sunday. Which means that it would very soon be Monday. Which is one of the days I traditionally post. And I had nothing. Because sometime on Saturday afternoon, I remember being unsure about what day it was and it was officially the moment where the holiday mindset started taking over.

Things have been a bit busy lately – if by ‘a bit’, you mean unbelievably – and I’d made it even busier because I planned to create a good 10 days (at least) around the holidays where I could putter around, relax as thoroughly as if I were at a spa, lose track of time, eat fruitcake (hic), watch costume dramas like the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones’s Diary (Pride and Prejudice, except with more mentions of the word bollocks) and Jane Eyre because that’s what the holidays are all about. And in order to make this happen, a number of things had to get done and there has been way too long a time where I have at all times been aware of what day and time it was and how many things were left on the list. And that reminds me… In the past five days, I’ve had no list – at least not one worth mentioning – and it’s been wonderful. Of course, the sitting around and drooling in front of the TV and no list was assisted by me getting several illnesses in a three-day period, some of which required antibiotics, because that’s what happens in my world when I move too fast for too long and ignore my body’s request to slow down. In the end, it throws up its hands, mutters ‘bitch’ and then makes me sit still by means of developing either an illness or an injury. Maybe I’ll work on my listening skills in the new year…

Ah, the holidays. A good two-week period where everyone’s incredibly busy doing family things and where being an immigrant who lives far away from one’s extended family really, really works. Aside from getting together with members of my chosen extended family a few times over this period, I usually try to spend it inside my apartment, going nowhere and seeing very few people and it is very, very good for the soul. And the writing urge, which needs solitude and the mental space that comes with not running hell-bent for leather every hour of the day to catch up with the list. And that’s another thing I might work on for the new year. Less lists. Stop snickering out there – it’s possible. Okay, so me without a list is not possible, but maybe I could reduce the amount of days where I need to look at it? Baby steps, people, baby steps…

Y’know, it’s interesting. I started this post having no idea whatsoever what I’d be writing about, but just popped on my headset and started dictating to Dragon and what ended up coming out in among the nonsensical blathering (of which there was some, because there’s frequently nonsensical blathering around here) was a couple of ideas that have been percolating for a while about how to make my life less hectic. I like those kinds of New Year’s resolutions better than the ones where you promise yourself to lose weight, stop smoking, start exercising and then fall off the wagon 10 days into January. Of course, it’s entirely possible to fall off the wagon if your resolution is to do less, so instead of making a big promise to make my life less hectic, which virtually guarantees that I won’t stick to it, I think I’m going to promise myself to work at it, a little bit every week. That’s attainable. Maybe in another year, I’ll have achieved a little bit more balance. (again. Stop snickering)

What do you want to do next year?

(and if the answer is that you don’t want to think about it because it makes your brain hurt, go play this game of defending your Christmas dinner from sprouts that Lynn up the comments sent me. Not quite as demented as Flight of the Hamsters, but good for an obsessive bit of fun, especially when the guy turns green and keels over from having too many of them. I always knew vegetables were bad for you)