Thank goodness..

...December is over. I made it, I made it, I made it.

I think the secret to not being miserable over the holidays was to finally drop the expectations and hopes of recreating the holidays as they once were, before the deaths, when there was a family, when it was happy without any effort. And of course, having moved out of my childhood home made things a lot easier; the echo of my father's laughter is not audible 500 miles away. I am now able to start my own traditions instead of relying on the Christmases of past, something that I am looking forward to doing from now on.

I am a little regretful that I didn't track my progress on here... I've just been absent. Part of it is my own need to grit my teeth and get through everything completely before finally looking back, and part of it is the fact that my little sister has been here for the past week and I've just been off the computer. She flies out Sunday morning and i'll be back into my routine on Monday.

I was hoping to write about all the things that have been going on for the past few weeks, but I can't remember everything. Okay, here's my excuse: There was a lot of traveling, a lot of emotional ups and downs (but, as I mentioned, far less than usual) and lots of sister-entertaining... and today's day-long headache. Combined, these things have caused some memory loss. I really should go to bed.

I'm thinking a December Recap in Photos might do the trick.

I am going to read this tomorrow and laugh at how all over the place my writing is.