Stressball--end of semester plus Xmas

I've handed out student evaluations for both classes.  I can relax a bit now, though I only have one week left of classes. Students this semester have ranged from OK to delightful, thankfully.  But that said, I will be happy to have classes done.  We're all ready for that; 15 weeks is a week or so too much. 

My student and I gave our campus talk yesterday to an absolutely packed room.  People were standing in the hall outside.  Hard to anticipate whether anyone at all will show up, so I'm thankful we had so many.  My student is an undergrad who is smarter and a harder worker than nearly any grad student I've had.  She did a good job, especially for her first public lecture.  I think we can get a good publication out of this.  And the campus talk forced us to get a good draft finished, plus helped us identify what we still need to work on.

Busy family weekend coming up.  We have the Xmas parade for our small city tonight.  Very charming--wouldn't want to miss it.  Plus, my son has to be there to sell hot chocolate as a fundraiser for his baseball team. 

Then, we go to big nearby city to see that Xmas parade tomorrow.  Much bigger, of course.  For the last 3-4 years, we have bought a hotel package that includes hotel room, parade stand seats, xmas movie and snacks that night, breakfast, plus a visit from Santa and a reindeer in the morning.  The kids love it.  But it pretty much blows our entire weekend--mid-day Saturday through Sunday afternoon.  So no cookie-baking or xmas shopping, as I have to spend what remains of the weekend working and cleaning.  We've decided that we'll only do the xmas parade package those years that my parents come to our house for xmas (like this year) and not the alternate years when we travel there.  Too stressful, unfortunately.

I've done some xmas shopping--not behind on that.  But I love baking cookies. And if I don't do it this weekend or Monday-Tuesday, I won't be able to distribute them to many of my colleagues.  And xmas cards--yikes! I like to send out cards with a photo of the two kids.  But my son's hair is a mess--hasn't been cut for 3-4 months, so you can imagine.  He needs a haircut before any pictures.  But when?  Last year I didn't even manage to send any cards, so I might have to compromise and do cards without photos.