I think many people can relate to either working to hard, traveling a ton, or working side-gigs. All too often, I feel like when I’m home, I’m working in some form or fashion, whether it is my day job, the reselling business, blog writing, podcasts, or just to-do lists. But the Friday before Christmas, I had a rare day off locally where I had originally planned on taking a last minute trip for, but, alas, award availability did not materialize–can you believe it? 

It actually worked out quite well. My wife and I had been wanting to visit the Baltimore Christmas Village, which is located on the Inner Harbor. Friday happened to have nice weather, it was a bit brisk, but not overly cold, not much wind, no precipitation of any sort. All told, it was the perfect confluence of events to get the entire family–My wife, Indy (our dog), and I–in the car and up into Baltimore.

Baltimore Christmas Village

We were happy to have the chance to bring Indy to an event. I think all of the discussion about emotional support animals paints a less than stellar picture on the value of being able to take your pet places, assuming you want to be honest about things. I’m not going to obfuscate things, he’s 5 years old and he is still just as hyper as he was a a puppy, and listens about 50% more of the time, which, is probably about 60% of the time. But it’s sure nice to be able to bring him to a nice, open air market. The kids loved him, he loved the kids, he loved the people, he loved the attention, and we all had a great time.

And, of course, we all got to enjoy some treats, too!

So, here, on this last day of 2016, I am glad to reflect on a very rare, day off locally in Maryland.

What are you appreciative for as 2016 comes to a close?