Holiday Happiness

Christmas Eve is here! Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I have all of my shopping done. Tonight and tomorrow we are going over to the next door neighbors house for a meal with them and their family. It should be fun.

Every holiday season seems to come around faster each year. They seem to all run into each other after awhile. The most memorable are the ones that happened sometime around the period when I was between 8 and 12. Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma, Aunt Sis, Uncle Randy, Uncle Butch, Aunt Stephanie, Steve, & Jen, would all come over to our small farmhouse on Christmas Eve. Christmas eve rocked because it was the height of anticipation of the entire year. The christmas break from school had just started so I had 2 weeks of nothing but playing with my new toys ahead of me. Pure bliss. Mom would have the table lit with candles, grandpa would complain he couldn’t see the food. The woodstove was burning, keeping the house toasty. The christmas tree seemed larger than life back then even though it was probably only 6 or 7 feet high. Sleeping on Christmas Eve was incredibly difficult. I always would wake up very early, 4am or so. The 2 hours or so before mom and dad would awake was always painfully long. Then the moment arrived when we could go downstairs, turn the corner and be amazed how the tree that had nothing around it last night was surrounded by presents! Santa was awesome. 15 minutes of fanatical wrapping paper destruction later, it was over. What a rush. After my parents began divorce proceedings when I was 12 or so, Christmas was never the same. I still looked forward to it but it was changed after that.

Nowadays, I still have a tendency to wake up early on Christmas. I enjoy present exchanges but enjoy when others open my gifts more than vice versa. Most of the anticipation and excitement has been replaced with appreciation for having a day or two off and relief from surviving the financial onslaught the holidays always puts on our bank account. The tree doesn’t look very big anymore. Many of the relatives I mentioned earlier are either dead or I just don’t keep in touch with.

The best part of Christmas is the increase in goodwill you come across day to day. Most people are generaly happier, friendlier and the world is a better place to walk through during the holidays. I hope everyone has a great holiday season. Peace on Earth, good will to men…..