Home for the Holidays

I got up at 7 this morning. Even though I've been getting up at 5am on every school day and 7am is technically "sleeping in," I was still exhausted. I suppose this week, this month, this semester have all taken their toll on me.

I was grateful I'd written my packing list last night before I went to sleep. Otherwise, I never would have remembered everything I needed! It took me half an hour to pack my car-- I'm slowly bringing things home that I no longer need at school. My goal is to move out in May using only my car and the family van. Easier said than done.

I called Mom as I left MySchool to let her know I was on my way. (She had called me 30 minutes earlier, wondering why I hadn't called yet. Hadn't I left already?) The drive, gorgeous in Autumn and pretty in Spring and Summer, was rainy and dreary. I browsed through radio stations before settling on one that played Christmas music. Not the Christmas music you hear on most radio stations like the annoying "Last Christmas I gave you my heart" song which repeats the same words/melody over and over or the out-of-tune "War is Over." This station played classier Christmas songs, i.e. a lovely piece by the Robert Shaw Chorale. Then I realized why I liked this station so much- it was based out of MySchool. :-)

Once I reached HomeState, traffic slowed down. The last two major highways on my route were backed up. Around this time, I was no longer in the broadcasting area of my new favorite radio station. So I browsed some more ... until I found a reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I discovered it when Scrooge saw Jacob Marley's face on his door knocker and was able to listen until the third spirit visited him. Around this time, the static was sounding more than the story ... and then the program was completely overtaken by a broadcast of a very low-quality talk show. The rain followed me all the way home.

Home. *smile* My mom designated tomorrow as a Family Day ~ we'll be preparing food for Sunday's big dinner, making hot cider, watching Christmas videos (claymation Rudolph, Disney Carols Sing-a-long), and driving around to see the holiday lights in our community. I can't wait! Well ... I suppose I can wait long enough to sleep in for the first time since who-knows-when without having to wake up to an alarm clock!