As Alvin and the chipmunks sang, “Christmas time is here again…”

Well, long time, no blog, eh? I guess, well, I don’t know where to begin with the explanations as to why I haven’t been writing. I’ve been busy, yes, working a lot at [—-]. It’s Christmastime, which is crazytime for retail. Ever since Black Friday, I’ve been either working or at home, exhausted, after working, the majority of the time. I’ve also been pretty depressed on and off.

A week before Thanksgiving, I got a call from my friend Camilla, to let me know that one of my best friends, Ellie’s, dad had dropped dead while playing basketball. Ellie was studying abroad at the time, and didn’t even know and it was just… extremely hard. Her family were able to get her a flight home the next day, and a lot of our other friends were able to come home from college so we could all be together… but it just sucked. It was so sudden, and so much like what happened with my dad, that it was hard to be as strong for Ellie as I needed to be. It’s like I wanted to help her with her grief, but it was only like seven months after my dad’s death and it felt like ripping the wound back open.

So, yeah. That had me pretty depressed, plus my grandma has been in and out of the hospital (long story), and it just seems like everything has been systematically going wrong, one thing after another, constantly. *big sigh*

But things are starting to look better! Really! Christmas is coming, and I love Christmas. All the decorations, the carols, the presents, the cheer. Plus, all my friends who are away being dedicated college students will be home for winter break, and we can party it up like it’s 1999, or something.

I also applied as a non-matriculated student at our local state college, and while I’m waiting to hear back on that, hopefully I can start taking baby steps back towards college next semester.

And in the best news, we are FINALLY moving back into our house this weekend! Yay! Not only is all the flood damage cleaned up/gutted/gone, but everything is shiny and pretty and new. I can’t wait.

It’s snowing right now, has been for a couple of hours, and it’s actually sticking. We’ve had a few flakes here and there, but no major snowfall until today, which is really unusual for where I live. Generally, I’m not a big fan of winter, or cold, wet, precipitation, but I must say, this snow looks beautiful. I don’t know how beautiful it will be when I have to drive through it to work in about an hour and a half, but right now? Gorgeous.