A Long December

Well, as I predicted in my last post, I made it through 30 days of posting every day only to not write a word for almost two weeks.

Okay, that's not entirely true. As I also wrote in my last post that I mostly wanted to get back to writing for me, and then promptly wrote a post that I'm trying to get published elsewhere. We'll see how that goes. #batmitzvahangst

So, basically no writing for all of you here at BSB. While I can't blame the weather, at least this time around, December remains one of my least favorite months. It's not all bad, but it's generally long, dark and too busy, until it abruptly halts when the rest of the world shuts down for Christmas and I have nothing to do. Thought I really do appreciate how well the weather has been holding up so far this month. I kinda like you, Global Warming.

My last work trip, approximately 36 hours in Tel Aviv, Israel, can only be summarized as surreal. Less than two years after my last trip to Israel, which that time was 20 years in the making, well, it was just weird to be there for only business purposes. I got driven around to all of my meetings, and only had about an hour of free time on my own, which I spent walking along the Mediterranean. It was beautiful but I was tired and lonely. I hope the next time I make it back there, the circumstances are different.

Then after a couple of hectic days getting acclimated back to the real world, Hanukkah began. (Remember my December Non-Dilemma post? I've seen so many like it this year.) The kids were very happy with their presents this year, including two-in-one tablet computers of their own, so that we're all no longer competing with each other for computer time. This had come to a head this year as both kids had a lot of homework on the computer, and so Marc eliminated that arguing with refurbished laptops. We had some very excited kids.

We had our annual latke dinner with Julie, Mike and Maya, attended a Hanukkah party at synagogue where Max sang with his chorus, and one with Marc's family in Connecticut. We also fit in a middle school chorus concert and an all-city chorus concert this past week. I'm always happy to have eight days to celebrate, but I'm always happy to see the eight days come to an end too. I've just stuck our wax-covered menorahs in the freezer, hoping it helps ease off the wax. Maybe I'll be a bit more prepared when we get back to this next year.

The other big news around here is that Hannah was selected to be an understudy for her middle school musical, "Oklahoma!" She gets one performance as Ado Annie, and then spends the rest of the shows as a farm girl, but she is over the moon to have gotten such a big role as a lowly sixth grader. It's a ton of rehearsals and a huge commitment, but I am so proud of her. She's really adjusted well to all of the extra work of middle school, and I'm sure this will be an exciting challenge for her.

We're also looking forward to seeing both kids in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the end of January. Max has taken it all very seriously and I think he could do a one-man production of it. I wonder where he gets that from... ;)

How are you holding up this December?