My kids were very excited that today is Monday. After all, they aren't in school, so it is great fun to wake up on a Monday and not have to go anywhere.

Except, I made them go on several errands. Boo-hoo!

We painted tiles to go in the new playground at their old preschool. I interviewed a prospective student to my undergraduate alma mater while the boys played around the outdoor area of Starbucks. We went to gymnastics. (Splig's first gymnastics meet is in less than two weeks now!) And then we were going to go to a movie preview. Alas, because of a mountain of work in front of me, we are at home while I swig a glass of red wine and have a brief respite before tackling the to-do's.

I expect the holiday hassle in some ways, but am slapped silly when the work really does pour in. After all, when folks are on "vacation" they start getting ideas. And when they get ideas, they decide I need to implement those ideas for them. (And the assumption is that I'm on "vacation" too, so must be devastatingly bored and would really love to work for them.)

Great for my bank account, not great for my sanity!

One rather memorable Thanksgiving included a client telling me, "Well, my sister says I should quit working so that we can go to my parents for some turkey, but I told her that we don't have time to do such frivolous things!" Um, really? Unfortunately, the client later disputed the bill, in complete denial that not only was I working after standard business hours (is it fair to expect me to work at 3am?) but was also sacrificing my holiday for her.

And so even when I am stressed around the holidays, I'm thankful that that particular client is no longer mine!

An ironic update less than 24 hours after this post: In the middle of the night a client who I hadn't heard from in around 6 months emailed me from his vacation home in Florida because he had a bunch of updates that he suddenly decided would need to be done now. And then this morning I received a phone call from a different person regarding something that had been sitting on his desk for a month that he decided he needed my assistance with today. I think people want to clear their plates figuratively before filling them up literally at the holidays.