The year is quickly speeding to a close.  While 2021 was a wonderful year for me goals-wise, I am not sorry to see it go.  Ready for the fresh start a new year brings!

I'll obviously do a detailed full year wrap up post after the end of the year but I'm so blown away by where things stand vs where I started in January.  I met up with an old friend the other night whom I hadn't seen in about 2 years and we were catching up.  I was explaining my year to him and his eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger!  Early numbers are looking like I paid off around $36k+ worth of debt this year (the net number is lower since I added new debt in the form of student loans), and increased savings by about $27k.  That's....pretty damn good haha.  

I am done with my shopping for Christmas gifts as of yesterday.  It looks like I spent right around $400.  I only buy for my mother, brother and sister, and I'm fine with that number.  I did not set aside money in a sinking fund for gifts this year, that's on the list for future years.  

The season has had a bit of a pall cast over it, with the infection rate skyrocketing again.  Even though I am mostly surrounded by fully vaccinated if not boosted people, it still has impacted my circle.  My best friend is in from out of town for what was supposed to be 2 weeks.  We went to dinner with my cousin, who I also consider a best friend, last week - two days later, my cousin developed symptoms, took an at home test, and then went to a local urgent care for a "real" test.  Positive.  She had not yet gotten boosted, wanting to wait for her planned time off over the holidays (she has a lot of autoimmune issues, and was afraid of how it was going to hit her - in my opinion that's exactly the reason she SHOULD have gotten boosted asap).  My other friend and I had no symptoms, but started doing at home tests over the course of the next few days.  We remain negative and symptom free.  Both boosted, which seems to be the difference these days.  Lots of plans have been quashed though.  We had tickets to a Broadway show - we had decided not to go, and eat the cost, but now it has been cancelled so we will get a refund.  My friend was supposed to do Christmas Eve with one side of her family - there is a positive there so it has been cancelled.  She has decided to go home a week early, and I can't say I blame her.  My cousin will be spending Christmas alone, since she can't start counting days until she is symptom free, and she is not yet.  Her mother also has serious autoimmune issues so they'll take extra precautions anyway.  My mother works in a school and has been exposed several times, but thankfully she is also boosted, and all of her tests have been negative.  Today is her last day in the building, so fingers crossed we avoid any more exposures before Christmas and we can still have the small but festive day we had planned.  

Christmas Day will be my mom and sister coming over for brunch (fingers crossed!!!) - I am making chai scones, Yuletide Cheer bread, croissant French toast, bacon, and a Buche de Noel.  A bit overboard for the 3 of us, but I am determined to make it special amidst everything going on around us.

I am officially on vacation from work until the New Year (although I am actually sitting at the work computer getting a few things done).  School finished up last week, I am waiting for one last grade....right now, I got an S in each of the three pass/fail courses, an A+ in statistics, an A in anthropology, and waiting on the grade from math.  Hoping for a B there.  My goal was a B, I need a C for tuition reimbursement.  Once that last grade is posted, I will submit my grades for the reimbursement, which should come through mid January.  It was due at noon today so I'm a bit annoyed, but trying to stay patient.  I am taking a CLEP exam tomorrow, then 2 more next week.  If I don't pass these, I will just take the courses.  I need to pass at least 1 of them to keep the same timeline, and am confident I can at least pull that much off haha.  

This morning I had a good weigh in, the number on the scale reflected that I have lost 99.1 pounds since my highest, just under 4 years ago.  .9 pounds to go to get to 100 pounds lost!  Crazy.   

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday, in spite of *gestures wildly* everything going on (I am in the NYC area so it probably feels a bit more intense here at the moment).