It was a long week at work. Worked 3 12-hour days, a 13-hour day, and then 6 hours on call. We did get a lunch break the first 3 days, which was a treat after so many months of not having enough staff to take one. I don’t ever go anywhere for lunch, but it is a nice break out of the office for an hour. It was nice seeing everyone after being off for a week. I’ll really miss my coworkers when I retire. Sunday working my on-call made me appreciate my team even more. My team has the same work ethic I have. We come to work to do our job, and when nothing is happening we socialize. The other team starts the day socializing and standing at each other’s desks then running when the phones are ringing off the wall. I can honestly say I’m not going to miss the feelings I have when I see the people not doing their jobs. We’re all getting paid to answer the phones, even if it’s annoying.

Advent is here and the first week symbolizes Hope. We can have hope in all of our circumstances because Jesus died to reunite us with God. God is always working everything for our good even when we face hardships. God is always faithful.

Although I no longer buy too much for Christmas, I believe I’ve completed all the shopping I’ll be doing. It’s so hard to buy for people these days. Everyone buys themselves anything they really want nowadays. The days of having to save up to buy something you’ve had your eye on are over. I miss the old days. Not to say I don’t appreciate that we don’t struggle the way we used to. Sometimes it just makes you enjoy what you buy when you’ve had to skimp and scrape to save up enough to buy something special. Hopefully, I’ve purchased items people don’t have and they’ll like what I picked out.