Well, we are sitting here at gate D3, waiting to board our flight. D as in depressing, in denial, don’t want to go home, and hoping it’s delayed. Not that I want to get stuck in Charlotte, but that’s still better than home.

I return to home with Christmas gifts to wrap, work to go back to, a paper to complete and turn in, and whiny kids, as well as two WONDERFUL weekends of holiday parties at my house. In other words, a bunch of crap I don’t want to deal with at all.

I know, I know. I am lucky. I just got to spend 4 days at a beautiful beach in a condo facing the ocean, steps from the sand and surf. I am very thankful for that. What most readers of this blog (if there are any at all) don’t realize or know is that I’m simply making up for lost time on the beach. My parents weren’t beach people, but my sister and I would rather be on a beach than anywhere else. We’re not sure from where this trait came, as it was obviously not from our parents. Also, in my “former life” as I like to call it at this point, I didn’t go to the beach from the age of 5 until the age of 32. I remember sitting on South Beach in Miami, watching the sun rise and set. I knew then that I had many beaches to see and make up for lost time. So, in the past 7 years, I’ve been to about 45 different beaches.

So, for the 27 years I didn’t get to go to the beach, this is make up time. It’s also me time.

And, now, as we board, I’m about to be in Christmas time, which is, by far, my least favorite holiday. I like the decorations, and I actually love buying things for my Sweetie. I just don’t like the unnappreciative people that I feel like I waste my time, money, and energy on. The ones who get a bit mad because they “only get one gift”. Really? Yes, one freaking gift. From someone who literally spent $16 on Christmas one year (1991), and got a pair of Snoopy houseshoes from my then-husband, because it’s all we could afford, one gift is enough.

Next year, I swear I’m taking a vacation and asking for people to donate to charity for me. I’d much prefer that over some ugly, used picture frame, trinkets, or pumpkin pie.