December was a Dud

In my quest to help other librarians, it is good to be as transparent as possible.  I'm going to be honest here, my December was a dud.  There were only 2.5 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break anyway; then I had jury duty the first day back from Thanksgiving break which morphed into a whole week.  So I arrive back at school with 8 days left, too many fun activities and projects I wanted to do, and not enough time.  At first, I was super depressed (especially when I realized that 4 of those 8 days were school-wide EOC retesting days).  I had no time to plan anything new, and I had to reschedule my clubs which led to lower turn outs since we were meeting on a day that didn't follow our normal schedule.  Then I had to cancel a lunch which I am still trying to reschedule for my aides.  However, I seem to be running out of calendar days.

The first couple of days back were BUSY & paralyzing at the same time, if that makes any sense.  I could hardly catch my breath, and panic definitely set in.  Then on the way to work the following day, I took a deep breath and decided whatever I can do will have to be enough this year.  Not every year is going to be like this, and I need to own it and keep going. So I put on my big girl panties, recycled my Christmas decorations and revised my "12 Days of Christmas" scavenger hunt from last year.  The library isn't as festive as I had planned, and a lot of my activities are missing, but this is what I can do.

 However, it is hard not to be super jealous of those libraries who have created book trees or other fantastic decorations, hosted a Christmas-themed hour of code event, made ornaments with their 3D printers or Christmas movies with a green screen, and/or enjoyed hot cocoa by the fireplace constructed of discarded books. (yes, that is a thing . . . )

 Having said that, it is just as important to know your limits and forgive yourself for the things you had planned but cannot do. For those of you who need to hear this, my December was a dud, but I'll live.  I think I'll start planning my winter activities for January & February.

Happy Holidays!