"Participants in Holidailies have all taken a very solemn vow to update their Web sites every day in December. You can read summaries of their most recent entries in the middle column, or browse the participating sites listed in the left column."

Eeks! What have I gotten myself into? With all the work and the shopping (blech) and the obligatory parties and the holiday stuff and all the other things I do or need to do that eat away at my time, I'm not sure how I will manage. Chomp. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. I wonder if there will be anything left of me afterwards.

Still, I think the Holidailies will be a good excercise, a kick in the pants to get me writing again. Trying to write once a day (give or take) will be a task but a rewarding one.

Monday. It was especially difficult to get out of bed this morning, despite the long weekend. Thanksgiving was fabulous at my sister's/cousin's place with both sides of the family coming, along with Sara. However, the very long day of socializing transformed Mike and I into a hermits for the next three days, only coming out on Friday to bring Sara home and Saturday for not-so-good Japanese Fusion cuisine. (Mike, for a change, was more social than I was over the weekend, taking a third outing on Sunday evening to roleplay with his weekly group.) I mostly played Star Wars Galaxies and watched The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition. I shall speak at length on both at a future date.

Monday. It was a pretty bad start to the day. After I bolted down a quick breakfast, showered, and dressed for the day, I ran out the door only to realize that I left my monthly railpass at home. I had to make a quick decision: continue on to the train station and hope that I had enough cash on me to pay for the commute and lunch or go back home and get my railpass, which would be useless since I would end up driving to work instead of taking the train in order for me to be on-time. I decided on the former and was pleased to discover I had enough for the day and took a nice nap on the way into Hoboken.

For lunch, I returned to Hoboken and got my lunch (tasty and great at three dollars), my rail ticket home (avoiding the rush hour madness), and spent some time reading a few chapters of The Two Towers. I returned to work feeling rested and my mental haze lifted.

On the walk home from the train station, in the streetlights and carlights I spotted gently drifting specs in the air. Snow. The first snowfall of the year! It lasted only a short time and there was no accumulation to speak of. I doubt that it was "official" anywhere, but seeing the snow acted as a good kick in the pants for me. I hummed "White Christmas" and my thoughts turned to buying crackers and plum pudding and putting together my homemade holiday cards. It might have started poorly, but it ended pretty great. I hope my December is the same.