The Holidays

The last final exam of my first semester of law school took place on my birthday at 8am.  I was worn out, feverish, and tore through the silly Legal Research & Writing exam.  Finals had taken a lot out of me, but it wasn't something that some sleep, lunch at Salt Lick, a good workout and some under eye concealer couldn't fix--for the most part.  Christmas was just a few days away and I hadn't listened to holiday music, made Christmas cookies, strung lights, seen the Nutcracker, or shopped for gifts for my family.  Law school was a lump of coal in my stocking.  After missing most of my favorite time of the year I relished the thought of life-after-law school when, surely, I would replace studying with celebrating the season.

Photo Credit: www.chicagostagereview.com

The first holiday season after graduating, December didn't find me studying or working for that matter.  Thanks to a slow economy and a firm with a deferral policy, I was able to convince myself that belated bar trip was in order and spent most of my December south of the equator, kayaking around New Zealand.  It was an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime trip.  I managed to squeeze in some holiday shopping, but it still didn't feel like the holiday season I remembered from my childhood.

From my trip to NZ

This December, my first as an associate, I'm staffed on a deal that will sign and close the day after my birthday.  I've been spending a lot of time at work, so I did all of my holiday shopping over the internet on Cyber Monday.  My toes have been tapping to the Nutcracker score piped into the Starbucks on the ground floor of our building, but I didn't make it to the Music Center to see the Joffrey perform.  I decided I couldn't justify a tree, decorations or even a batch of sugar cookies just for me.  Sending out Christmas card seemed silly as I opened cards with wedding and baby photos (but I thought this was awesome).  Following a bad habit developed while in law school, I started thinking that I'll do those special one day when I'm married, or when I have kids (a turn of phrase that has begun to take on a meaning similar to "when pigs fly").

A happy holiday season can happen whether you're in law school, far away from home, or working at a firm. I just have to make it happen and stop making excuses!