I did clean out one of the hummingbird feeders.

Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, racy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today I'm talking about holiday burnout. Did you have a good holiday, a good Thanksgiving? I did. It was nice to have four days off. I basically had four days off. I did do a little bit of work, but it was nice to have four days off. I mean, even though I work mostly remotely, it was nice to have that dedicated time right.

My husband and I had a very quiet Thanksgiving. We don't have really very much family here, just my husband's brother, my brother-in-law, but we all wanted to just be quiet and rest, so we didn't necessarily get together. We did spend time together recently because it was my husband's birthday on November 20th, so that day was kind of like our birthday slash celebration. Thanksgiving itself was great because I slept in. I actually slept till noon and I haven't done that in a long time. But here's a celebration of having a schedule, because that night I had a really hard time going to sleep. I had slept too much. I know Sleep is restorative and it's important to catch up on your rest. So as I was awake at 3 am that night, thinking I slept too much, I was kind of kicking myself because I couldn't go to sleep and then the next day I was too tired. You just can't win. Anyway, the weekend overall was very nice, very positive, and I guess it was restorative. Even though I had that kind of glitch. It was just nice to have a holiday time and when I go into these extended days off, I always think I'm going to be so productive, I'm going to do so many things around the house. I'm going to clean, I'm going to purge, I'm going to do this or that, and I end up doing probably almost nothing. I did clean out one of the hummingbird feeders. What else did I do? Oh well, I did also finish the Christmas decorations outside. Now I know it's a little early, but it's not really because Thanksgiving was so late.

This year we only have about what three weeks or so until Christmas and this year, finally, I see that our town is having a holiday decorating contest, so I wanted to finish up the decorations, send in a photo and enter, which I did. It took a lot of work, but I also take a lot of pride in my creativity and the decorations. When I'm out there putting the final touches on things or sprucing up or pulling redwood tree leaves out of the different inflatables crevices, neighbors will walk by and say, gosh, I really love your yard. Or gosh, you really have a lot of patience, and I just laugh. People have said how much they enjoy the decorations, although sometimes I think the neighbors must think that I'm out of my mind. I'll post a picture of at least the front row of inflatables so you can see what they're talking about.

And then this year I went out just to kind of put the final touches on it. I went out and I bought 10 poinsettia plants the day after Thanksgiving to kind of fill in the gaps and cover up some of the cords. I think it looks nice. I just have to remember to water them every day because it has been a little bit warm. Back to that again Warm during the day and cool in the evening. Those poinsettia plant pots can really dry out fast. And then there goes your investment right? Yeah, first world problems. Anyway, it's been a lot of fun and I've really enjoyed the creativity of decorating, but there's a few things I still have to do, like fix the places where the burned out bulbs from last year are lacking. I guess I consider it like a hobby.

Yeah, what's on the books for this week? I have my follow-up appointment with the root canal dentist and I'm not looking forward to that, but I'm hoping that I won't be in as much pain and agony as I was after the first visit. You can go back to my episode about that Dental Anxiety Part 3 or something. It was terrible. Anyway, I'm hoping that I'm on the mend.

I'm wishing you a good week as we enter into the major holiday period of time. Whatever you're doing to celebrate, remember to drive carefully, because this is the time of year when people are crazy. They forget how to drive because they're trying to get to the mall, or they're trying to get to that candy store to buy gifts for their family, or to get to the market to buy food for the big holiday party. So be careful, everyone, and take your last days off before the year end. Next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.