Holidays

It is funny how by mid-October suddenly the holiday season is upon us here in the US. It seems to me that the season begins earlier every year, and now the official start is in October with the plethora of consumer products available for Halloween. Not that I am complaining necessarily, but sometimes it feels like the capitalists are really pushing things. It would be nice if this season was not the "spending season" but the season wherein we celebrate the joys of family and friends. For my family the celebrations actually begin in early October with the celebration of my youngest child's birth. This is followed by my Mom's birthday, Halloween, my niece's birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving, my oldest step-son's birthday, Christmas, New Years Eve, and the New Years Day/Anniversary celebration. Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it! For me this time of year means loads of extra chores to be done, somehow with joy. Decorating, re-decorating, and re-decorating, cooking, cleaning, baking, more cleaning, and so on. It is no wonder that I usually just want to sleep through January. (The fact that I decided to re-finish the family room floor between Halloween and Thanksgiving this year probably did not help!) That being said, I have to admit that I do love all of it. It is a way I can express my feelings for my loved ones, by doing all of those things with love. And while I complained about having to do it all my self while the children were still in the house, I know that I created something for them that they will be able to have forever, memories of family and joy. I can only hope that they will use those memories to create similar ones for their own families when the time comes. So I am not going to complain to the capitalists, but instead ignore their pleas to "spend, spend, spend" while turning my attention to celebrating the joys of family and friends. I will put up the trees and decorate them with love. I will bake hundreds of cookies with love and share them with my friends. I will stir every pot, scrub every corner, and wrap every gift with love. For when it is all said and done, that is what the holidays are all about.