I like working the weeks between the Thanksgiving and New Year breaks. I do not like going to the mall, especially locally. The family that I spend holidays with is all local and we see each other all the time so I am not doing an special entertaining or extra travel. I do not have kids concerts, recitals, or exam study sessions to attend. Other instructors like to take time off so work is usually available and it is a good time to pad the bank account for the slower months at the beginning of each year. If I am traveling, I can go check out the decorations of some other city - one year I was even lucky enough to be sent to NYC where I made sure to go see the show at Radio City Music Hall and the windows at Macy's.
That said, for the past few years I have been on the road not just near the holidays, but specifically the week before Christmas and trying to get home on one of the busiest Friday's of the year. I have even flown home on Christmas Eve morning to avoid the worst of a Friday night. This year I was working locally which involves a bit of a commute. It was damp, drizzly, and foggy all week making for horrible traffic and lots of accidents. It was just plain ugly. I was driving home - no sitting in traffic on the Interstate - one evening thinking that I would rather be traveling. If I was traveling I would be staying at a hotel much closer to the office. I also wouldn't know if the traffic was normal or a holiday special. And I probably wouldn't be as interested in getting back to the hotel or to dinner alone at any specific time. I was just thinking I should try harder to be traveling the week before the holiday next year...
Then I saw the weather report - snow in the mid west and north east. Flights canceled in the New York City area and Chicago. I am very glad to be at home.
Merry Christmas.
-sml
