Warmed and Worn Out

12.29.2011

Happy Holidays, friends!  

Ever since Thanksgiving, life has been a non-stop whirlwind of fun and activity that has warmed my soul and also worn me to my core.  In a nutshell, we hosted Thanksgiving; we hosted a gingerbread house decorating party for our nieces and nephews; we did fall cleanup in our garden; I spent a weekend with one of my BFFs imbibing on holiday goodness, booze, and My Fair Wedding marathons; my Mom came for a visit, we started painting and renovating our downstairs apartment; attended various work, friend and family holiday parties; and then traveled to CT for Christmas.  I'm spent!

Now that I'm back home and the holidays are almost over, I am very much looking forward to the deep quiet of winter.  Ideally, I would escape into the woods of Vermont and hibernate in cabin for the next two months.  No tv, no internet, no phone; just books, candles, a bathtub, a camera, and my laptop for writing.  And some wine.  And Jay, duh.  But unfortunately, my employer frowns upon two month periods of isolation and rest in faraway states.  So, I'll have to improvise.

I think what I'm really craving is just good old fashioned unscheduled down time.  I want a weekend with no plans, so that I can wake up and choose to watch movies on the couch all day, or I can choose to go hiking in the woods, or just go for a drive and wander through the small towns of Pennsylvania.  I get this hankering every winter, and every winter I find solace in the quiet, cold of winter.  So, after New Year's Eve, and after we're done working on the first floor apartment, I will take my cues from nature, go underground and hibernate for awhile.  Bliss. 


What about you?  How do you spend the winter?  What do you crave after the busyness of the autumn and holiday season?  Any other hibernators out there?