Every Winter Break seems to have several regular patterns. I like patterns. Patterns help me think and work pretty well.
Here's a fun pattern from Open Clip Art:
When I was a graduate student, these patterns included lots of movie watching, book reading, emotional holiday-related stress, financial stress about being broke, and feeling good about being around family.
Faculty patterns are not changed that much. I still stress about family & personal emotional calm, but they are a different kind and flavor of stress. Far less powerless and a lot more sense of agency in my experience. So, it's a nice kind of shift.
In terms of work, Winter Break is:-
revise the CV
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revise the professional website
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test out new software
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buy some ebooks
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subscribe to new sites
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catch up on all the smart Twitter people I follow.
Plus I generally realize how little I am doing compared to the super awesome Tech Comm and Ed Tech posses out there.
Unlike graduate school, the apparent gap between others' performance and my own does not freak me out as much as it used to. In fact, I'm glad they are successful, and I hope to imitate them well. Their hard work makes my work easier. I say that with respect.
So Winter Break really seems to be a time where I assess and realize that, in spite of my stupid illusory paranoid and insecure delusions of total failure and idiocy, I am not doing that bad. And I actually have a cool interesting things to add to my CV. Plus some stuff to say.
But mostly, I really like having a chance to see what others are doing. One day, maybe, I can be as awesome as other people.