C: Holiday Smugness

  I said before: For me, once Halloween passes, it seems like time hurdles toward Christmas.  MIL made a motion that we go out for Thanksgiving dinner, and that’s what we’re doing.  I had mixed emotions about it, being afraid that I would miss being totally exhausted by the time the meal is here and spending huge amounts of $$$$ on groceries and then having to clean up to boot. 

I’ve decided I can get over that…I’ll miss the leftovers, but I surely don’t need them hanging around here.  And, let’s be real; my Thanksgiving dinners never looked like Norman Rockwell’s depiction, anyway.

I will miss cooking at Thanksgiving, as I love to cook and no longer have any reason to…being single and all.  I have quashed that regret, however, mollifying myself with thoughts of cooking my you-know-what off for Christmas. 

I have spent the morning sipping coffee and wrapping Christmas presents, and there is where the “smugness” of the title comes in.  I am a last-minute person on most things, a function of being a lawyer, I think, with too much to do and getting it done just-in-the-nick-of-the-deadline. 

This year, though, I know that Christmas will be an usually-hard strain financially, so I started amassing “good deal” gifts back in the summer.  It just did not feel right to start wrapping until now.  But now that the holiday hurdle is  here, I am really enjoying the wrapping and listing.  It feels like accomplishment.

So, yes, I am smug with satisfaction that I have a financial jump on. St. Nick.  If I can just keep this pace, I’ll finish the holiday race with breath (and cash, a little) to spare at Christmas.  Sounds good, but I bet I end up just as frenetic as usual…just my style.

Now, I cannot close this post without mentioning my very, very favorite Christmas tradition for those of you with kids at home—or grandkids!

DO THIS! YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!

While my son was growing up, each year I got a plain ornament and a paint pen.  I put his name and the year at the top.  All over it I wrote the events of the year, such as “Starring role in ‘Peter Pan’” or “Scored winning goal in Soccer tournament,” or “New Cousin born!”  I included the bad, too—“Bobby feel off horse and broke his arm—ouch!”

Now, even as an adult, my son reads over these ornaments each year as we decorate the tree, exclaiming, “I remember that trip, Mom!  It’s the one where you got lost from me and Dad in Macy’s…”

You’ve got plenty of time!  Go to the craft store and start making these memory ornaments for your kids.  They will love you for it in years to come!

Happy Holiday Hurdle!  C