This time of the year reminds me of my working days and how I always looked forward to a few extra days off around Christmas.

“Are you taking off next week?” asked my co-worker.  We had two days off for the Christmas holiday, so a lot of people were taking the other three days also, a good way to get a week off without using up your leave. I had already asked off for Monday.

“Well, I planned to work on Thursday and Friday, but I would like to get some rest.” I had not had a vacation in ages and I needed some down time. Counting the weekends, I would get nine days off. I should be able to get a lot of rest in nine days.

That Saturday, my first day off, I decided that I needed to clean the house. It was filthy. I had some remodeling done, and there was sawdust everywhere. It took an entire day just to run the vacuum and clean up the mess. And Christmas was coming soon!

On Sunday, We decided to unpack and put back all the things that we had moved out of the worker’s way: lamps, pictures, knickknacks.  A good idea, and as long as everything is off the furniture, I might as well polish the wood.

Monday, the day before Christmas Eve – I wanted the house to be somewhat normal for Christmas, so I polished my silver and copper items, a job I hate, washed glass items, and put back everything the way it should be. Sure looked nice. After two solid days of housecleaning, I was pooped.

Christmas Eve already – I needed to go to the grocery store or we would not have anything to eat. The store was packed. Well, what did I expect? I thought I would get a sliced ham so I would not have to do too much. Of course, I had to fix my famous green Jello salad and a few other side dishes. Gee, I was worn out from cooking and cleaning and the next day was Christmas.

Christmas Day – Grandkids were there. Presents were opened and wrapping paper thrown all over the place. I cleaned up all the mess and put the food out. Everyone ate, and I cleaned up that mess. I didn’t want to do house cleaning on Christmas, so I left it for the next day and tried to enjoy Christmas.

Thursday – The guy was coming to install my new dishwasher. Did I mention my old one died and I had been washing dishes the old-fashioned way? Direct TV was also coming. The TV was on the blink. The laundry was meeting me in the hallway, so I had to do that. I thought I was supposed to be getting some rest?

Friday – Things started out well, except there were so many little things left that I needed to get done while I was off and had time. I made a list: Paint bathroom door, vacuum tops of cabinets (I didn’t get to that before) Work on door to attic that is sticking, and the door on my computer desk had fallen off. I tried, honestly, but this is stuff for a handyman, not me.

Saturday – I had to go to work next week, which meant I needed to go to the grocery store again to get food for lunches. I also needed to go to the drug store and to Walmart to return that mini-blind that didn’t fit. As long as the line for returns was, I wondered if I should just throw it away and get a new one.

Sunday – I needed to get rid of the Christmas decorations. I needed to press and hang up the clothes I got for Christmas. I hadn’t had time to try things on yet and they were still in the boxes. Tomorrow it was back to the office.

Monday – Gee, the nine days sure flew by. It was good to get back to work where I could finally get some rest. Staying at home was just way too much work.

Copyright 2013 Sheila Moss