Today is my last day of work before I start my holiday vacation and I am incredibly excited to have some time off (would-be burglars take note - I have someone staying in my apartment with my cats and she knows kung fu). As much as I love vacations where I get to travel somewhere fun, I'm very excited about this vacation, where I get to go to my parents' house and be lazy. Well, sort of lazy. There's lots of visiting to be done, of course, and I will be helping with Christmas preparations, but it will be nice to have a trip free of responsibility for a while.
2009 became the year of the Staycation, and the more stressed I get at work, the more the idea of a Staycation appeals to me. Just a week to hang out at home, plow through my household project list, sleep in, watch movies, and just do whatever I want. Unfortunately, that's not really an option. I don't quite have enough annual leave stored up for that.
Sometimes, I forget that a vacation doesn't need to cost a lot of money. For this trip, I bought my plane tickets and will probably try to pay for dinner if we eat out. And it will be an enjoyable trip. I think in 2010, I'm going to try to take a long weekend to myself, where I just use the days off to relax and do things that I want to do. Even if I spent the whole time on household projects, getting those off my task list and off my mind will reduce my stress level and that's exactly what a vacation should do.
What are your plans for the holidays? Are you already mentally planning vacations for next year?