Merrymas in DePhoMo

So I ended up having to call in for work tomorrow (only the second time ever at this job and maybe fourth time in my seven years as a nurse!) as my back is tighter and more stiff than ever. I also can't rightfully work while on muscle relaxers so I suppose it's the safest if I don't go in. Hoping a few more days rest will have me ready to work by Tuesday. I hear we're very low census right now and they're calling people off so my absence won't really be felt.

In other news, today was spent back home at my parents' house with my sister, her husband, Rob and my sweet ol' parents as well as all of our pets celebrating Merrymas. My parents are atheists so I didn't get traditional Christmas at all while growing up and my parents invited a holiday based around the solstice that we celebrate twice a year - around June 21st and December 21st. Since Christmas is so close to the Dec 21st date, we typically move it back into January so as to lessen the strain that time of year. We eat, hang out, catch up, eat some more, talk some more...very relaxing, no gifts, no obligations, no hassle. Very low key and wonderful. It's a little odd and more than once people have heard about it and given a lot of push back about why Christmas is great the way it is...but I quite like it. We aren't trying to compete with Christmas and we're just quietly doing our own little thing. Works for us so we'll probably keep doing it. :)

We met at noon and proceeded to gorge ourselves on homemade treats, cheese & sausage trays, a veggie platter, cheese spread, cut up fruit and all kinds of yumminess. Then we played cards and a few boardgames before taking my parents' two dogs and Claire out for a long walk in the snow. It is nearly knee deep out there with drifts well over that and I was thankful for my young, athletic dog. She bounded through the snow, barely slowed down in her pursuit of the tennis ball that would land and sink beneath the surface. My parents' dogs are much older and thus achey and slow, choosing to walk in our trudged down snowy paths instead of leaping through it themselves. Claire was in her happy place though and leapt gleefully, not at all affected by the cold or the snow or anything at all. We knew we needed to get good walks in for the dogs as the awful blistering frostbite-inducing cold starts in the morning. Eek!

Heading over to a friend's house tomorrow and relaxing while watching the Packer playoff game. Hoping to lay low for the next two days, rest my back, stay warm and safe, catch up on Prosebox and our DVR, read a few good books I've been putting off (The Book Thief, for one) and snuggle the puppy on the couch. If it's going to be damn near -75 windchill, I will listen to all of the weather announcers and hunker down! Hoping you are all in warmer places with better weather and if you're not, well let's write some entries back and forth and keep one another company. :)