The Joys of Grown Up Life

I feel like throwing an all out tantrum and I figured I might find sympathy among my fellow white mothers. Here's the deal -- the holiday season just isn't the same when you work full-time. Everything special about the season as I have always known it, has existed in part because of the huge lack of responsibility for say, a week or two, that accompanies Christmas break. But when you're a grown up and you work for a really fantastically ridiculous company, Thanksgiving means you get Thanksgiving day off. One random day in the middle of the week to stuff yourself and then somehow wake from your turkey coma on Friday morning to return bright eyed and bushy tailed to work. Christmas means you get Christmas day off. And that's it. No more lounging around mom and dad's house in pajama pants until noon, sliding across wood floors in your favorite wool socks and eating leftovers all day long. Those days are in the past. And the best part? At my current place of employment, we are not to ask for time off in November or December and from what I understand, any such requests will be denied. In other words, if my request of Christmas Eve is denied (it's a monday, for crying out loud!), I'm going to call in sick. And I announced that at our staff meeting last week. Might as well be honest if they won't be fair, right?

Now that I think about it, appealing to an audience comprised two-thirds of teachers, who will forever maintain in some sense the sanity-affording breaks that make the season special, may not have been the best place to call for sympathy.