NOt not NOT organized this holiday. As in, we're still deciding what to do for
Thanksgiving. My in-laws were planning to visit but decided not to (airfares were
running high) so the choices are between camping in Death Valley and staying home
-- we both know we'll regret it if we don't go, but we're also both tired enough
that the planning and packing sound like a major undertaking. If we go, we'll need
to prepare a reasonable Thanksgiving dinner to take (a problem fortunately already
solved a few years back by my take-along turkey fajitas) as well aas plan for the
rest of our meals; if we stay home we need to get a real turkey and figure out
where to go for our needed dose of fresh air (not a problem; there's lots of day
hiking around here).
I still need to buy most of my presents for
Christmas, Hanukah and the various family birthdays that happen in Decemenber.
Hanukah is late this year, but the timing of the birthdays and the frnzy I
anticipate in packing for Antarctica mean I have to buy and send them early
anyway. I enjoy shopping for presents almost as much as I enjoy getting them (and
sometimes more) but there's a bittersweet element to it too. I have to buy so few
family presents these days, because the four grandparents I spent my childhood
holidays making cards and presents for aren't here to receive them anymore.
Holidays are always when I miss them most, as well as when I'm most grateful that
I had four grandparents until I was in college.