I'm having a wee bit of trouble getting into the mind of Christmas this year. The year has flown by so quickly and we've been so wrapped up in book stuff it feels like it should still be Fall. There's always the added stress of gift giving, holiday cards, extra cooking, parties -- and though its all fun and should be a joyous time ... all I feel like doing is ... working on my novel. Am I nuts? Am I a workaholic? Maybe it's because I feel the pressure to get it done. Maybe its because Michael has been so sick the past several days (cold and flu) and my dern back is acting up ... but I think a poor Christmas spirit for me stems from way back.
Growing up, my holidays were wonderful. My parents made them that way. As a Goodyear employee, Daddy took us every year to the big Goodyear theater for cartoons and candy and every child got to pick out a gift. It was a highlight of my year, let me tell you. I'd plan all year what toy I wanted. You see, we only received toys on birthdays and Christmas.
Mom loved to bake, so the house smelled wonderful all season. We had great tree, filled with those old bubble lights and angel hair that you hoped never got on you, or you'd itch all night. She was always in a good mood over the holidays. I loved every minute of it.
My grandparents were wonderful to come on Christmas Eve and bring a gift, but grandma's cooking was something out of this world. Santa came every year, it always snowed, and I felt loved. It molded my image of how the Christmas spirit should be.
It was years later that Scrooge showed up and ruined the Christmas spirit for me for many, many years. He blew in like Freddy Kruger, Jason, and the Grinch all wrapped up in one. After all these years, I still fight that old bugger.
So ... here I sit again, two weeks before Christmas, trying like the dickens to catch the spirit. The house is decorated, we did get that much done. It twinkles all over the place. You can't turn on the TV without getting bombarded from the advertisers that its time to spend money. But I guess, its a combination of so many things that drags my spirit into one of humbug.
If you have any ideas on how to catch that spirit, let me know.
Blessings to you and yours.
2 comments:
I'm trying to focus on the things I enjoy about the holidays, like eggnog and Christmas carols, decorations and lights on houses. Spending time with family and friends. I'm not buying many presents - refuse to go to the stores - am ignoring the television - and trying to find the joy that the season should bring, instead of hating the commercialism. We'll have a wonderful time, Pami, in spite of it all.
I'm with Beth in that I almost ignore the holiday. I take a deep breath the weekend after Thanksgiving and buy gifts, wrap them, address X-mas cards, and decorate the house. It's draining, but then I'm DONE with the holiday.
My tip is to watch the cartoon X-mas specials we watched as kids. I watched "The Grinch" last night and had a ball singing along.
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