For the first time since we’ve lived here in Atlanta (and I think the first time since the 1800′s), we woke up to a white christmas! It felt like home.

Merry Christmas from the Morrison Family

Photo card compliments of Dave Morrison.

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is over and we’re just weeks away from Christmas. I didn’t get my tree up over Thanksgiving, like many “smart” people who, with four days off, use that time to get ready for the season. Four days off sounds like a lot of time, until the clock strikes 5 p.m. on the fourth day. Then, you sit back and wonder “where did the time go?”

So “where did the time go?” And really, why does it seem to go faster as you get older? Is it because we “twitter” away time? That age-old saying makes more sense now, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why it’s called Twitter?

My mother used to say “Don’t twitter away your day.” I didn’t get it. What was twittering? And how could I know I was doing it if I didn’t know what it was? Now I realize she was a woman of vision. She just didn’t realize it at the time. Damn. I could’ve been living in Italy all this time, eating grapes right from the vine and dining with handsome Italian men who spoke not a word of English.

But seriously, I can’t figure out why the hands on the clock seem to speed up the minute I close down my computer on a Friday afternoon. Four whole days ahead of me, that week of Thanksgiving, seemed so heavenly. I could get in some writing. Maybe finish reading “The Journal Keeper”? Get the tree up. Do some Christmas shopping. Clean the house. Do some writing…There was a lengthy list of things twirling through my brain. All the things I could get done!

By Sunday afternoon, I was rested, to be sure. It’s always good to get a break from your everyday. But very few of the things on my “must do while I have four days off,” were accomplished. And, in the end, maybe that’s just fine. Maybe I over-plan my TIME. I was rested. I spent hours with my children — all of them under one roof — laughing and reminiscing about the days gone by. A good use of TIME, I’d say.

photo credit: Fanie