Average Jane vs. The Holiday Season

Christmas used to be my favorite holiday.  I’d bring in a real tree, decorate every square inch of my house with faux greenery and shiny baubles, and bake cookies every week from Thanksgiving on.  I loved to choose the perfect gifts, wrap them and admire them stacked under the tree.

Now…not so much.

Somewhere along the line, "enchanting and glorious" turned into "expensive and time-consuming."  My family members began making increasingly strict present-limiting agreements to the point where I’m pretty sure we only buy gifts for my niece now.  I still enjoy baking cookies and making candy, but with a diabetic husband and other relatives on diets, it seems cruel to have too many sweets available.  I now have an unnaturally tall and skinny artificial tree that fits neatly into a corner of the living room.  I buy pine-scented Glade Plug-Ins to try to replicate the fresh tree smell, but it’s not quite the same.

When I was a child, I always woke up early on Christmas morning and sat with my sister at the top of the stairs for hours until our parents woke up and let us go down and open the gifts from our stockings.  Now I sleep late on Christmas morning and barely get to my sister’s house in time to help her prepare the afternoon meal.

This year I want to really make an effort to recapture some of the appreciation for Christmas that I once had.  I want to decorate the house, have lots of friends over, make goodies to give away and think of thoughtful, affordable gifts for each family member.  With any luck, this will be the best holiday I’ve had in years.