So many things

I've had a lovely holiday season with my family. We've had good conversation, eaten good food, played games, and opened gifts together.  Christmas Eve we had a delicious tofu curry with jasmine rice, a vegan scramble for breakfast Christmas Day and homemade pizzas for dinner that night. The Friday before Christmas we hosted a Christmas party for theatre friends and I made.an Italian Sausage lasagna and Japhy made pesto pasta for her and I (no tomatoes, no meat). I  made Whoville 's Spiced Up Margaritas for the party and French 75s on Christmas night.  We tried our best to play Chameleon all together and then the next day a few of us tackled CodeNames together which was a blast! Most importantly it was just great to see our grown up kids having fun, laughing together. 

I got everything done that I needed to do before the holiday. The presents were wrapped, menus planned, house clean and I did it all on very little sleep. It's been a rough month or so starting around Thanksgiving I've had the worst trouble sleeping.  I've been sick with a cold for about the same amount of time that has compromised my immune system.

Sleep is so important and lack of it causes me to forget things and not be my best self. I've tried many of the recommended suggestions for better sleep including melatonin, staying off screens, drinking relaxing tea, going to bed early and while I might do any number of combinations of those ideas I still might lie awake at night getting only a brief amount of sleep either right away or toward morning. I'm frustrated. I started menopause years ago making this a ten-year-old problem. Our beautiful Tarah dog above fell asleep one night so deeply right on top of the gifts and all I could think was "I am so jealous!" 

I am still doing yoga both at home with Adriene and also with Sam at Cota Studios but many things like blogging just don't get done because of this sleep deprivation. My goal for this coming 2024 is to get back on a better schedule.  For the last couple of months Japhy has been home because she is about to go on a grand adventure but that's a whole other post for later. 

Take care, get some rest, and happy holidays to you...