This Day in December

Today I met with the students from two of my classes for the final time, and tomorrow I'll say goodbye to those enrolled in my other two courses.  One week from now, I expect that final grades will be uploaded.

It's the typical routine that brings a semester to a close, but I've noticed something different this time around -- namely, I'm not quite as tired.  I've managed a healthier work-life balance this semester, a feat that has eluded me for the past few years.  Granted, I still faced a few weeks when I feared I was drowning in essays and might never reach the bottom of the stack, but those weeks passed.  I felt tension, but not all 15 weeks were characterized by it.

This is a good thing, friends.  I highly recommend this having-school-aged-kids phase of life.  Not only has it opened the afternoons for me to work uninterrupted, but I also discovered that school-aged kids have the capacity to turn into small elves who decorate for Christmas even if you aren't supervising.

For example, my ten-year-old hung our stockings.

She also draped random strings of indoor lights around picture frames and mirrors, which adds a tacky dorm-room vibe to our décor, but I'm systematically editing that part of the picture. 

There's evidence that these kids of mine are nicely settling into a new era -- a Capable-of-Doing-Stuff era.  I had been grading speeches; they had been decorating.  All of us had been entirely content, busy with our own tasks, which then creates opportunities for a few more moments like this:

And this: 

(On a side note, have I told you that I've decided to become a tea drinker instead of being a person who merely likes the idea of tea?  This decision resulted from careful, systematic thought about the benefits of having a beverage ritual.  And the fact that someone gave me six boxes of tea and I didn't quite know what to do with them.)

Wishing you little sips of refreshment this day in December, my friends.