Christmas Craziness

Well, it's that time of the year again. 

Christmas.....YAY!

This is my favorite time of the year but for me there is a price to pay before I can relax.

No, it's not the shopping or anything like that.

It's WORK...I am an accountant and in particular I handle local tax and fixed assets at a large manufacturing plant. We shut down the last week, sometimes week and a half, of the year. The plant stops production and uses this time to do inventory and maintenance that they haven't been able to do while everyone was there. 

Everyone is rushing to get things done before the break. This includes spending all their budget.

Agghhh!!! There is so much happening the first 2 weeks in December, it's crazy.

So between the Thanksgiving holiday and shutdown I have a whole lot of stuff to get done, including some major tax filings. I am always fearful that I am going to forget something and not be able to fix it because there is nobody left at work! I haven't done that yet and probably never will, but it's like the nightmare you have about ending up in front of your class at school naked. Bizarre and terrifying. 

It never fails that by the time I am ready to leave for Christmas break I am so frazzled I spend the first off day recovering. 

I have been doing my Christmas shopping on-line and have most of it done already. We put up the tree today and the house is all festive and merry. This helps me to get through these hectic work days coming up. I know when I get home it will be all lit up and sparkling with Christmas cheer, I'll get through it.

Last week-end we went up to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. They put on a great light show through the woods. They take you on an hour long trolley ride through the grounds and there are Christmas lights everywhere. All I had was my phone camera and I didn't get any good pictures of the the lights but I got one of my sister Wanda and Margot and one of Jacob Marley's Christmas Spirits stop. It was warm that day, but freezing that night, we had a great time.

My sister Wanda and Margot

Jill got a tasty warm "spirit" here.

We have tickets to see Christmas Carol in a couple of weeks at the local Shakespeare Festival, which is one of the best Shakespeare Festivals in the country, by the way. We have seen it several years now and it's become a tradition. Both the lights and the play actually.

Do you have a special Christmas tradition you are looking forward to? 

CIAO, Stephanie