Mice and elves

I am trying to maintain happiness. Due to the snow, my substitute teaching job was extended three more days. I am enjoying it. Of course, I don’t have to do the heavy paperwork a regular teacher would. That would be daunting and is one of the reasons I don’t think I want to teach full time.

The apartment is coming along nicely. Little things about it make me happy. The crystal doorknobs, the sturdy bannisters and the nice straight staircases are wonderful. So is the nice big kitchen. I think it’s the nicest kitchen I have had as an adult.

Child support is still behind. To add insult to injury, my ex informed me when he received his first pay from his latest new job. The child support payment is not instant. It has to go to the state first, then to me. At least I know it will be coming eventually. Still, I had to resist replying “Good for you.” I settled for “That’s good.”

I wrote out my budget for the rest of the month. It’s a bit tight, but I will do my best to make it work, with or without the child support check.

My mother used to tell me I could always make things work out. I came to hate that expression. Because it was not always true. Still, I miss her a lot. I’ve been thinking of her quite often lately. She loved Snoopy. There are a lot of Snoopy-themed holiday items. She also liked AnnaLee mice, and we see those during the holidays, too.

Right now, I am debating whether to wrap the kids’ gifts tomorrow or wait until I can buy wrapping paper to match the Christmas tree decor. I’m a little OCD that way. At least the tree is up. I put it in the front window. The kiddos laughed at me for wanting to put decorations on the back of the tree for people outside to see. I did a few anyway.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, but Christmas is a close second. When we are driving at night, I tend to point out the holiday lights, whether my kids appreciate it or not. We have more snow on the way, and I look forward to that too.

I haven’t put out my mother’s AnnaLee mice yet, but i probably will. We don’t do Elf on the Shelf. Or Krampusnacht. That was never a tradition in my family. I think we all had enough drama and trauma without a mean monster.

Elf on the Shelf makes me think of my mother’s mother. She had a whole passel of elves that she would put on her fireplace mantle. Somehow, she made it look cute, not creepy. But when she died, my uncle went crazy trying to find those elves in her house. He never did. I think she probably donated them. Still, every time I see one of those elves, I remember him searching for them.

Still, I might bring out the mice tomorrow. Somehow a lot of my own holiday stuff got shoved in the boxes with them, so at least I know where they are.

However and whatever you celebrate this season, I hope you all have joy and happiness.