Thursday night, it became clear that a snow storm was going to hit New Jersey.

My college closed down. Normally that would be an excellent thing, but I was supposed to give a final Friday morning. Friday was the last day of finals week, and the dorms were closing. Students were taking off for vacation. I was looking at giving 30 separate make up exams. So, I scrambled. I got in touch with 26 of the 30 students and gave an open book/open notes timed exam via e-mail on Friday morning. 3 clueless students checked their e-mails at some point over the weekend, and we did the same thing. I've got to go in tomorrow morning for the one, freakishly clueless student, who never once checked his e-mail over the weekend. I'll use that hour to print out the exams and do book orders for the spring term.

Friday was the icing on the cake for last week. I did almost all of my  Christmas shopping in a three hour shopping-fest at the mall on Thursday. I dealt with annoying case of plagiarism. [Note to students. If eight pages of your paper are barely literate, and I suddenly come across a section that uses the words like "eshews" or "prevalent," I'm gonna google it.] I sent out holidays gifts for distant relatives.

My kids' schools were also canceled. So, I lost Friday. A day when I was going to catch up with life. Instead, lists were made and I'm highly scheduled for the next few days. Tips for the babysitter and housecleaner. Gift cards for teachers and therapists. Trips to three supermarkets. And last minute purchases at the Lego store.

I'm gearing up for Christmas Eve. It will be at our house this year. We celebrate Italian style with 12 fishy appetizers. My in-laws will coming for a few days. We're busy staging the Santa lie for the kids.

I'm going to check in briefly over the next week, but expect sparse postings.