The holidays approach

The holidays are among us. This is that time of year when I take on something almost schizophrenic in nature – when I am excited for the possibilities of warm holiday memories and dreading the chaos that always accompanies this time of year. In less than a week, Halloween will be upon us. All the little kiddies will dress in their scariest and threaten tricks while really just seeking out treats. My witch, my vampire princess and my devil will be among them, most likely pretending not to be freezing in order to avoid even a chance that they might miss out on some sugary goodness. They will, of course, have eaten 6+ pieces of candy before getting home despite my warnings to only have one. Once at home, they will proceed to dump their ‘treasure’ on the table and the sorting and trading will commence. Despite the candy-coated frenzy, I do still enjoy the whimsy of it all.

Not too long after that, we will be preparing for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving and Christmas are always harder holidays for me I think. Thanksgiving does remind to give thanks for each little blessing in my life, but, to be honest, I do that quite frequently anyway. But then it reminds me of the people who are not thankful for the blessings in their lives – the people who only focus on the negative things or the people who don’t even notice the blessings at all. I try not to let these people bring me down, but often I find myself dwelling on them and it makes me a little bitter. I don’t like that. I don’t like people who suck so much energy out of my life that I can’t focus on my own happy thoughts. So Thanksgiving is always a lesson in balance for me. But I do look forward to it nonetheless (okay, okay, I’ll admit, I am, more than anything else, looking forward to the turkey because it was AH-MAZING last year! – and the wine, I rather like that as well). I know ahead of time that at least two of the children will fight, one of them will beg everyone she sees to play video games with her, one will keep trying to hole herself up in her room, one will be too wound up and will eat very little and then she will fall asleep on the couch and at some point someone (or many) will leave a plate laying somewhere it shouldn’t be and the dogs will clean it off for them. I know these things WILL happen, but I look forward to it anyway and already I can feel the warm creep up into my face as I think about how much I appreciate the people in my life. I really need to be a hugger. ;-)

And then we head into Christmas. I am not ashamed to admit that I am getting really impatient to start decorating for that. Yes, I know, it’s not Halloween yet, but I can’t help it. I spent a good amount of time sniffing holiday scented candles and looking at Christmas crafts and working on Christmas lists with the kids and now I want the holly and lights and music and movies dammit! For the people coming over on Thanksgiving…there is a good chance that Christmas might have already puked on my house by then, it’s hard to say. ;-) I don’t know what it is, but Christmas always gives me hope in people (as long as I stay away from the malls, not a lot of hope there during the holidays). It always energizes me to make things better, to appreciate the smaller moments and delight in the delight of my children. It makes me feel warm and cozy and makes me want to sing and dance and laugh and play. Even when we do not have enough for many presents, I take joy in the twinkling lights of the Christmas trees and the happiness I feel when my children and myself are singing Christmas songs together (like Silent Night or the sillier songs like Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie) and the ‘glee’ we feel anticipating the new holiday episode of ‘Glee’. I certainly have my moments of upset, especially when I really let things get me down, but for the most part, I’m kind of like a little kid Christmas – I am still very happy with hot chocolate and ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’

And those are just a few thoughts as we head into this holiday season. I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to say.