I am writing to you from the second official day of my winter break—after spending all of this week drinking my weight in DayQuil and going through enough tissues for a family of four. I somehow acquired what felt like an old timey disease disguised as a cold and thought the end was near on Tuesday night but I’ve bounced back (I can say that I was negative for COVID; I took a test just to make sure). Unfortunately, it has cut into my well-deserved winter break, which I’m not super happy about but you can’t really do much when you’re sick.

The university where I work is closed from December 23 to January 1, and I had a few days of vacation time left, so I took Wednesday to Friday off this week, giving me my typical two week winter break. Even though I’m recovering from tuberculosis, I still have some things planned that I should be able to participate in. (I am feeling much better than earlier this week; just have a lingering cough that’s super annoying.)

Josh’s family Christmas parties: I’m no rookie anymore when it comes to his family parties, one with his dad’s side and one with his mom’s side. Both include Yankee Swaps and I just sit back, relax, and watch all of the yelling.

Celebrating Christmas with Josh: Since he has to work on Christmas Day and we’ll be with his family on Christmas Eve, Josh and I always celebrate our own little Christmas beforehand. We’ll make dinner together, have some festive eggnog/rum drinks, watch a movie (I think we’re leaning toward Red One since it’s on Amazon Prime now), and open gifts. It’s something I’m really looking forward to after being sick because I feel like we’ve barely seen each other even though we live together.

Reading: I haven’t read in… five days? Usually my attention span is shot when I’m sick, so I haven’t picked up a book but I want to get back into a cozy reading mood before the end of the year. I’ve read 68 books (succeeded my goal of 60) so far, and I have two library books still yet to read before they have to be returned.

Going home for Christmas: I’ll go to my parents Christmas morning to open gifts, but as of this writing, I don’t know what else we’re doing that day? I’m just looking forward to spending time with my parents and the pets and opening gifts.

Dinner with a friend: This was postponed due to the typhoid fever I had. It’s with my friend Alex (who third wheels on the beer maze with Josh and I) to give her her birthday gift that I should have brought with me in October but forgot because we were rushing out of the house. Better late than never? She’s a former co-worker and I try to get together with her every few months to catch up and hang out.

McCray’s light walkthrough: This is one of my new favorite holiday traditions that Josh and I do. This is the third year that the event is happening, and I’m looking forward to what new lighting displays they have on the farm.

End of year blog posts and setting up my 2025 journal: End of year posts will include my 2024 year in review and what I read in books during the year. I also want to get a new bullet journal for 2025 and I’ll set up the pages with things I like to track, like one thing that happened every day, days read, movement days, a running book list, etc.

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Now I’m off to lay on the couch, watch everything on Netflix, and recover from the diphtheria that I have. Is it possible to watch all of Netflix? We will see.