I’ve discovered something this week. It turns out that I am much more in the Christmas spirit from December 24th through the New Years celebrations than I am during the time leading up to Christmas. Maybe it’s because everything is done and you can relax and enjoy the time instead of worrying about shopping, wrapping, etc. I don’t know – but I’m enjoying my lovely Christmas tree (with lots of new ornaments!), the stockings hanging by the fireplace, and all of it so much more.

We had a fabulous holiday. On Christmas Eve, we got snow. Snow! In Houston! I think it was the first recorded snowfall here on a Christmas Eve. Fabulous, and it was a nice addition to the holiday. We went to my parent’s house for Christmas Eve and hosted Christmas day at our house. Our family tradition is to open family gifts on Christmas Eve, and Santa gifts on Christmas Day. (Santa brings gifts for everyone at our house.) This year, instead of hauling things over to my parent’s house, we opened the presents from them while we were there, and everything else at our house.

This was torture for Jason, who really wanted an X-Box. It wasn’t at my parent’s house though – he had to wait until Christmas morning to receive it.

We baked, we cooked, Mike made a holiday feast for Christmas day. The food was wonderful, and the company was even better. We all had a really great time.

My Dad was tired though by the time Christmas day was winding down, so he went home and the plan was that we would just drive my Mom home later. Instead, when we realized it was almost 1 am, I just found her some pajamas and she spent the night at our house – and didn’t go home until midnight last night! It was nice having her here to visit. Plus she helped us with the fudge and peppermint bark that we made, and she gave me a refresher course in how to crochet.

This year, we all exchanged handmade gifts. It was a nice twist, and in some ways we all put more thought into those gifts than the others. (With the exception of the Xbox and all the goodies that went with it.) I made a set of coasters for my Dad, a cute set of notecards for my Mom, and a photo album for Mike. My Dad made us a Christmas tree shaped cheese tray and a carved “fishing boy” (my request). My Mom had contacted Mike’s mom and created a cookbook for us that has family recipes and some of the stories behind them. It’s fantastic and I love it!

All in all, a very good holiday!

Well, well, well … what to say. I’m almost at a loss for words, even though hours have passed since I first got the news. What news? Well, rather than the usual holiday glee and fun, I’ll be spending the next few weeks looking for a new job.

Yes, looking for a new job.

What a way to start off the week. What a way to start off the month of December. What a day.

However, I’m not in a panic. Yes, the techno industry job market sucks right now – but I’ve said for several months how I miss the corporate world. I can still keep my feet in the web world thanks to Blogomania, but I’ve already set up interviews for later this week for jobs in the legal and corporate world. It’s time.

Everything happens for a reason – I’ve been through this before and I came out on top then, I’m sure I’ll come out on top again. Thank you again to my parents, Mike, Chelsey, Kymberlie, and Brian for their support today. Seriously, it made things a lot easier to handle. I needed you guys, and you were there for me. It means a lot.

If you’ve sent me e-mails … well, they’ve been wiped out thanks to all of this. If I haven’t answered you, please resend it and I’ll get it answered as quick as I can. If you sent me your address within the past week for holiday card swapping, could you e-mail me that info again too? I was planning on working on Holiday cards tonight – looks like the plans have changed a little, I have a resume to tweak!