I want to have my cake and eat it too. More than that, I want to make the cake, admire it, slice it perfectly, and also quietly savor every morsel.

Lawyers are notoriously want-it-all people. Even as end-of-the year deadlines loom, we yearn to spend time doing the things we love.

My cake, ideally, is a yule log: chocolate sponge rolled around tart raspberry curd and whipped cream, finished with a thick ganache and a whisper of powdered sugar.

Christmas jazz plays while I bake. Mulled wine warms my mug and insides alike. The house smells like chocolate and competence. I cut the cake on a diagonal, revealing the perfect swirl, a ribbon of dark red—proof that I have achieved balance and seasonal magic. I have made my cake. I have eaten it.

This is not, however, what December looks like.

Click here to read the full article written by Kayla Goodfellow and first published in The Indiana Lawyer. Login may be required.