The Holiday Season

Every time I post now, there’s so much that I’ve missed. Before it didn’t matter as much, because I was catching some of you up on the phone, but now I’ve stopped doing that as well.

I don’t like the fact that I’ve lost touch with some of you, but I hope that I get better!

Anyhow, this time of year is exciting. I love the holidays, especially Christmas. It still feels a little strange to be in North Carolina during the holidays though, since it’s 72 degrees outside today! But I’ve already been to one holiday party and have a few coming up.

I didn’t get a chance to post about Thanksgiving, but I had a nice one. I brought TK home with me, which was sort of a big deal. I’ve never brought a boyfriend home to celebrate a holiday before. It felt great. TK’s family was having a big celebration, but I didn’t want to leave my Mom, Stepfather and brother home to celebrate on their own. It would have been just the three of them whereas TK’s family was going to have 8+ people there. I think my parent’s are starting to warm up to TK more, though they’re still trying to hold onto their “little girl” as much as possible.

Unfortunately, TK and I are going to be apart on Christmas. My family is driving up to NY for Christmas since our extended family is up there. We haven’t been to NY for Christmas for a few years now, and my mom really wanted to get everyone together. I was bummed that I wasn’t going to be able to celebrate with TK, because he and his family don’t celebrate Christmas. He’s Bahai, and this would have been his first time celebrating Christmas. But all is well, because our family is going to celebrate Christmas early so that we can exchange our gifts on our own and so that TK can get a taste of how we do it up. We’re going back to my parent’s place next weekend to have our faux Christmas. That’s fine with me, since it means I get my presents early! Ha.

Speaking of early gift giving, I think that I’m going to give TK his presents today. I was planning on giving them to him before we went to my parent’s place anyway, but I can barely contain myself anymore. I’ve had them for a few weeks, and I’m having a hard time letting them sit there.

I still have a lot of shopping to do though. I need to buy my family presents before next weekend, and I need to buy Twin something. Our group of friends is getting together to do a Secret-Santa party, and I drew his name. Twin is obsessed with Macy’s – he has a dance and everything – so I might just get him a gift card so he can shop his little heart out. ☺

I also love the fact that the semester is wrapping up at school. Classes finished on Friday, and now I only have grading standing in my way. I should have started grading this weekend, but I decided to take some relaxation time. Grades are due on the 20th, so I have some breathing room.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve been teaching for a year and a half. I’m no longer the new kid on the block. Four out of the six people in my office just started this semester. On a daily basis I still feel like I’m going to be “found out” by my students, as if I am still making things up as I go along. I still struggle to break through to students who really hate writing and question whether or not I know anything about writing in the first place. But I also had students who thanked me at the end of this semester for teaching them a lot. A few students emailed me their thanks, and one student even gave me a present (which was a first for me). It’s that kind of thing that is really rewarding. It felt especially nice to get feedback from the students at the other university I’m teaching at. I really enjoyed working there this semester, and I’m looking forward to teaching the course again next semester.

But I’m still grateful for the semester break! The time between semesters is necessary to recharge and forget all the reasons why teaching is frustrating so that you can do it all over again in January!