Normal

Here I sit, plunking away at the keyboard, feeling as if everything is right with the world. My f-i-l and nephew have returned. The nephew is feeling much better now. Everything is unpacked and put away. All the laundry is finished. The house is cleaned and all of my chores are done. Right now, my attention has been captured by one of the true loves of my life: Cary Grant. The Bishop's Wife is on TCM.

We had Thanksgiving yesterday, kind of a quiet affair. A nice change, I must admit. My brother-in-law rocked the barbecue and made the best turkey ever. I know, it sounds redneck, but trust me it's not. He is a chef when it comes to cooking. And my s-i-l is no slouch either. The stuffing didn't have raisins in it, thank God.

They sent pie home with us last night and we made it an early night. While I'm thankful that my nephew is healthy, it was nice having to postpone Thanksgiving a few days. He touched us all with a heartfelt "Thank you for waiting for me" as we began to have dinner.

Tomorrow we return to our normal schedule and as always, it will be with a little relief. Vacations are nice but Kevin & I are both wired to be on schedules. But then, I work for just three weeks then have two weeks off again. It will be lovely to have Christmas off and to just relax through a normally busy season.

This year, because of our trip, Christmas will be low-key. This also takes the pressure off. I am looking forward to leisurely shopping and watching every Christmas movie ever made. I have already had a good headway this weekend. This morning, I loaded the stereo with Christmas CD's and took out the Christmas movies we own.

I've dragged my feet with the decorations this year as it feels nice to wallow in "normal" for a little while. And as I've joked many times before: normal and me don't often collide in the same sentence so it's a comforting feeling.