Break

There's just something about a holiday break.

Whether you're a teacher or a student, breaks can be a welcome escape from the daily school routine.

Though this Thanksgiving didn't involve travel or big family gatherings for me, it was still a special one.

Firstly, it was the first time in years that I've had the entire week of Thanksgiving off. These have been few and far between since undergrad, so I was excited. The Friday before was a blur, filled with parties and distracted students and adults (and a few early dismissals). I was barely home before I'd turned off my multiple alarms for school and settled down for a comfortable week.

If you asked me what day it was between Saturday and Tuesday, I probably couldn't tell you. Everyone in our house is a night owl, and bedtimes were mere suggestions. I didn't quite return to my habit of staying up until the crack of dawn like I did when I was younger, but a couple of days were pretty close.

I did so much reading and writing over the first few days that I almost felt that I could make up for the time that I'd been losing over the year to do those things. I tried to be purposeful and pay attention to when I was mindlessly scrolling so that I could repurpose that time for something productive.

I think that it worked, for the most part. I rewrote a few chapters and finished a book. I pulled my Switch from its case and played a bit of Assassin's Creed. I even went into my substantial puzzle collection and started a 1,000-piece puzzle.

I started Thanksgiving meal prep on Tuesday with a pan of cornbread. Wednesday I was in the kitchen for hours, making sweet potato pie and prepping the macaroni, dressing, and challah. Then Thursday we finished with turkey legs, deviled eggs, and green beans.

But my favorite part of break was how together it was.

Though my boyfriend, his son, and myself are all introverts, I've found that we do enjoy time together. My boyfriend will always find his way into the kitchen and offer some help. He even braided bread prettier than I did. The three of us worked together to crack and peel the eggs for the deviled eggs. We sat together for several meals. We even played Mario Party together, joining my brother (through wonderful internet play) and they all ganged up on me to beat me. Still a little salty about that one.

Both of them even stopped to help me with my puzzle at times at my station at the dining room (living room?) table. It reminded me of early on in our relationship when he sat down to help me with my long-unfinished Star Wars puzzle. I was rather surprised when he did it, even more so when he didn't have any complaints about it and we sat in silence for hours working on it.

We've even gotten into the habit of doing the New York Times puzzles while sitting in the same room (though all of us are very competitive and refuse to share answers). Neither that nor family gym trips were on my bingo card, but I'm not mad about it.

What was really neat to me was our ability to do our own thing. Many hours were spent with everyone in their own pursuits, in different areas of the house; gaming, reading, puzzling. Occasionally, we would wander to the other for a bit of conversation or attention, but for the most part, we were enjoying our time to ourselves.

Even when I sat at my desk next to my boyfriend at his desk, we focused on our own activities. It was wonderful to pull myself from an intense writing session and to glance over and see him sitting there, engrossed in his game.

It really was an amazing, restful holiday break.

I'm already looking forward to the next one.