The Birthday/Christmas Rundown, Part IV

As mentioned in my scheduling post last weekend, we've now gotten the two big family-interaction days out of the way, and yesterday was our "day of rest." And rest we did, really -- as mentioned before, Daisy has spent most of the past 24-36 hours sleeping (her own count, as of yesterday afternoon, was sixteen hours). I can't say I blame her, really. She never gets the chance to be off work for an extended amount of time, and even gets less of a chance to sleep as much as she wants or needs to.

In between her sleep/wake cycles, my own day yesterday was also restful -- and I was able to get a lot of necessary work done in that time. I wrapped all of the presents I had for her and for the parents, with the exception of her stocking-stuffer things (which I'll put in the actual stocking tomorrow night, I'm guessing). Last night and this morning has been a day to take stock of pretty much everything that's left, which isn't a whole lot:

• All of my/our Christmas cards have been mailed; the last one I sent was to my parents on Friday. We've gotten about four or five in return, and I received one birthday card from my grandmother, but no one else. Which I'm fine with -- most other friends/relatives stopped sending me birthday cards around the time I graduated high school. I know there are at least two or three Christmas cards still on the way from friends and family who have told me they're sending some.
• I was able to do all of the laundry we had in the house; I'll have another load to wash/dry before tomorrow night as I plan to take my bathrobe with me to the parents (it's the warmest garment of clothing I have, and it shields me from the wind and snow when I go smoke outside).
• As mentioned above, all of my presents are wrapped; however, there are at least two gifts for Daisy and one for Mama that has not arrived yet. I checked my log -- two of them I ordered on November 9, and the third I ordered on November 26. Generally my orders come within three weeks or so, but apparently not these ones. One of the gifts for the kids was on backorder over three weeks ago as well, and it's still not here yet either. At this point I have absolutely lost hope that any of them will be here before Christmas -- I have no idea what's taking them so long. 
• I have to work this afternoon. I leave in about forty minutes. I'm waiting to wake up Daisy as, since it's a Tuesday and I'm relatively sure it will be quiet, I don't want to spend any more time there than necessary tonight. In, do my work, take a lunch, do more work, get the hell out. 

However.

I did get the best early Christmas present of my life last night (and no, it wasn't a new car, though that would rank up there pretty close as well). No, my best early Christmas present was that I got an email from my student loan servicer telling me that my paperwork had been processed and that I have officially been granted forbearance on my loans for another year. The forbearance ends on the same day it ended this year, December 10. I also received the paper version in the mail as well to verify. Why is this the best early Christmas present of my life? Well, as my monthly loan payment would have been $524.40, it just saved me about $6300 (a huge chunk of my yearly income) that I can actually put towards things like food and a new car over the course of this next year, and, y'know, actually see something come of that money instead of giving it away.

Some of you may be saying "you'll have to pay it back eventually, Brandon," and to that I say yes, probably, but until I can afford to, those fuckers are getting the middle finger from me. Merry Christmas.

Of course, that confirmation comes way too late now compared to when I needed said confirmation much earlier this month, as if I'd gotten the forbearance when I'd applied for it instead of almost a month later, I'd probably have another car now (of some sort) or I would've been able to get Daisy the present I actually wanted to get her for Christmas -- a new laptop. Which I couldn't get, primarily, because a) the one I was planning to get for her doubled in price on the day I was going to order it, but b) because I had to budget for that loan bullshit.

On that note? Time to go to work.