Yay...I slept in....

Well, I slept till 6:30, which is like sleeping in for me. Went to bed at 10 (we were watching Fahrenheit 451, which Trav has never seen, but I just couldn't stay up any longer). Hit the sheets and slept straight through, with dreams, even. Realized I hadn't remembered a dream in days, weeks.

So maybe Dr. Ron was right; he usually is. I was excited (i.e., stressed). We go all out: Christmas eve Mass and a family party, then gifts galore under the tree.

Now that Christmas day is over, those knitted gifts I didn't finish don't matter. It was a good day--a great day--though a bit bittersweet, as good days often are. It's as if I'm in the future, as well as the present, looking back, remembering. And now Travis is off school till Jan. 8, which I'm jazzed about.

I have a Jewish friend who said Christmas is just a bit odd and uncomfortable--all the hubbub that doesn't include her. I bet, I said. I tried to imagine living in Israel or somewhere where Christmas is a teensy blip on the calendar and Hannukuh or Ramadan is like a Kleig light against the darkness.

How has the holiday been for you?

It's happening earlier and earlier....

Waking, that is. This morning Brian had just come to bed (in from a gig at one). I lay there for a bit and was too awake; my mind was pinging about, thinking of this thing I had to do and that thing. I looked at the clock. Four a.m. My feet found my slippers and I went out to the living room and read The Glass Castle (by Jeannette Walls, who's going to be on my show on Jan. 4), which I like very much. After a bit I turned out the light and tried to sleep on the sofa. Wasn't happening. Got up, made a cup of tea and worked on a guitar strap I'm making for my son for the Big Day. The black sky lightened to gray. Soon Travis got up and we went to Trader Joe's and came back to make cookies and caramel corn.

My acupuncturist, Dr. Ron, said, "Maybe it's because you're excited."

"About what?"

"The holiday!"

"Oh! Hmm. Maybe."

I actually like that my day has become longer. It reminds me of the few times I returned home from India and I was awake when everyone else was sleeping. It was fun, but only for so long.

Tomorrow's Christmas eve.

In Travis' words, Happy ChristmaHannaKwanzika....to you all....

Is anyone sleeping?

It's 5:14 a.m. here in Southern California and I've been awake almost an hour. I awoke with my heart beating hard and fast. I did some deep breathing and soon the heart calmed down. But I was still awake. So I did what I always do when I can't stay asleep--I got up, fed Rosie (JoJo is in absentia), made a cup of tea and sat down at the computer to prepare for my show (Michael Datcher and Francine Prose are on) and catch up, before I take Trav to school and go to Dr. Ron the acupuncturist and do more holiday shopping and hope that the appliance repairman comes today to fix the oven so I can actually bake cookies.

I just don't sleep the way I used to. Too much on my mind? Too much caffeine (tea?)? Too much to do? I dunno.

I tend to not write when I wake up earlier than I would like. Although this may just be a recent thing, since my plate, which has turned into a platter this fall, overfloweth with work/tasks/obligations other than writing fiction, which is sheer luxury.

One resolution for the New Year is to scale back onwork work, and finish my novel. Maybe another should be to sleep more. Although perhaps 6 - 7 hours sleep is enough for me.

What are your sleep habits? Do you wake up earlier than you would like? And when you do, what do you do?

Resolutions?

I don't know that I would call it a resolution, but I've been so busy with teaching and deadlines and Christmas that I've hardly worked on my novel in weeks. Things will be slowing down in the next week or so and not speed up till around the third week of January, so I really really really really really hope I can finish the first draft of Starletta's Kitchen.

Anyone have any writerly--or otherwise--resolutions brewing?

Oh, I've been remiss....

.....without intending to be. Just have been so busy. Teaching five classes has winnowed down to two, which helps free up time. But it's busy as ever and in my ongoing search to cut back, I've come up with nada. Anything I'd pull back from I fear would make me flakey. I used to be tres flakey. Got a lot of people mad at me because I'd flake at the last minute or break a date with a girlfriend for some guy. Oh, bad bad behavior.

As it is, I look forward to the next month and a half when things will be on the light side and I can perhaps finish the first draft of my novel. Still hovering at the 350 page mark.

How are all of you about now?

(Anyone else love pomegranates? I do, but all those bothersome seeds....!)