Getting stuff ready

I'm sending out my Christmas cards today. I got all the ones off to local people that I send, I got the one sent to my old graduate advisor (Yes, I still send him and his wife a card), and a few others. I realized I don't have the addresses of either uncle; I have them over at school and I have to decide if it's easier to drive over there or easier to call my mom and ask her for them. (I could also ask her if the relative undergoing treatment has an address where he is right now and if he'd appreciate a card....not sure if he's going to be with family or in hospital over Christmas)

I still send paper Christmas cards. I know it's an expense but I like doing it. I don't expect cards back, though some people do still send them. For some folks, it's the only time of the year I may have contact with them (which is kind of sad, but it happens)

Often this is one of the last things I get done before leaving on break. I tend to put it off, first, because grading makes me tired of writing, and second, because it does take a chunk of time to do. (I don't send as many cards as my parents - I probably send about 25, they send 75, and I remember a time when they sent over 100 cards - a couple years I was "employed" to type the address labels for them)

I also dug through and found the yarn for the projects I want to take, and probably will wind that off some time today. And I need to fill the car with gas and go to the bank and get money.

I don't know. I still feel a little melancholy about what is going on ("We fear change.") but also recognize that (a) there's nothing I can do about it and (b) I'm going out of town, so there's really nothing I can do in the short term.

***

There's a helicopter going overhead (best guess: medivac flight, that's the most common type we get). Little childhood memory: back in the days of Santa Claus, my parents used to say that a helicopter overhead was "Santa flying over to check on people." My parents were pretty low-key about the Santa surveillance thing (one reason some modern parents give for not doing the whole Santa thing) but it was understood you were expected to be "good," even though it was pretty likely you'd get nice presents even if you weren't "good" ALL the time.

As I've said before, I miss that part of childhood: the unquestioning acceptance of the whole thing, which was also coupled with the ability to have intense and vivid fantasy worlds involving the lives of my stuffed animals or little plastic animal figures. (And oh, the ability to have unbridled and total joy over getting the toy you wanted More Than Anything on Christmas morning. Anyone who claims adults are more "materialistic" than children....I don't know. I can't think of any THING I could open on Christmas morning that would make me that insanely happy as some of the toys I got as a kid. There are EVENTS that would make me that happy - learning, for example, that a total, inexpensive, and accessible cure for cancer were found. Or that my church's money troubles were resolved favorably and we got a bunch of new members. Or that the family member I referred to was found to have a relatively minor and simply corrected health issue....Or world peace, even as I realize that's as unrealistic as me wanting to get a pony when I was 8)

***

I don't do well out of a schedule. I've been working on Chrysalis' hair but it's taking forever and I have to keep taking breaks to rest my hands. I think of how I COULD go antiquing or something but I admit I'm afraid of possibly overtaxing my car (or having some idiot hit my car and render it undriveable) this short before having to make the long trip to the train station. (I cannot think of anyone I would feel comfortable asking to drive me, if it came to that. I'd probably try to rent an Enterprise car, have them take it from the station, and have them meet me again when I returned)

When I get up to Illinois, there will be Christmas preparations to do and cookies to bake and places to go shopping and stuff, but right now I feel kind of at loose ends.