Thursday, December 18, 2008

Let the Season Begin

Thanksgiving was late this year…so the holiday season was instantly upon us. I don’t know about you…but I find it hard to switch from one holiday to another…in a day. One moment you are saying “Thanks” and “pass the gravy, Pilgrim PaulA” and the next moment you are saying “Feliz Navidad” and “pass the fruitcake, Carlos.”

So after Turkey Day, I dutifully put away our fall decorations and dragged out the decorations for Christmas. But it just didn’t feel like Christmas. Even after we put everything up …it didn’t feel like Christmas. We had a temp of 22 degrees with a dusting of snow…and it still didn’t feel like Christmas. So I have to ask myself…Why does it not feel like Christmas?

I have an inkling why this is so. It is because our kids are grown!!! I think the holiday season is all about little kids anticipating the big day. Counting down the days until Santa comes…the “I just gotta have it” wish list…the trip to the mall to sit on Santa’s lap …the threat of being good or Santa will put coal in your stocking or even skip us. (OMG, I can’t believe I said that.)

With little kids, the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving. Your kids wouldn’t have it any other way. You feel their wonder and excitement as the countdown begins…with them asking about Santa and his reindeer, watching Christmas specials on TV, reading Christmas books, singing holiday songs, buying Christmas outfits, making gingerbread houses…

Yep, my kids are big kids now…all grown up. And we won’t all be together until a few days before the holiday. It will feel like Christmas when all 5 of us are home together…sleeping under one roof…nestled all snug in our beds….…let the visions of sugar-plums begin.

That’s the moment the Christmas season officially begins…for me.

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