'Tis the Season

Well, Thanksgiving is over and it seems like everyone is diving headfirst into Christmas! Personally, I like a little buffer time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ya know, to let the turkey settle, finish off the leftovers, then maybe starve myself for a few days to get my weight back to normal...

I guess it never occurred to me how many people I know put up their Christmas trees and lights the day after Thanksgiving. Who knew?? I don't think I've ever in my life had a Christmas tree in the house before December, much less the day after Thanksgiving. Aaron and I both work on Black Friday every year so we never get our decorations up until well after December 1st. This year I feel like we're behind already! But I refuse to give in to peer pressure - the tree's not going up until we feel like it!

Now to figure out when I'll feel like it... I am going to admit something very shameful, try not to judge me too harshly now - for the past couple years I haven't really been looking forward to Christmas. I know!! What is wrong with me?? Sigh, I'm not a grinch or anything (no termites in my smile!), I just can't get into it. I think one reason for that is I feel like it's SUCH a busy time of year. There's something going on every weekend in December and it's stressful having to shop for everyone on the list. Especially when money is tight, as it tends to be for us at the end of the year. Another reason is that holidays are just hard in general when you're "child-free-not-by-choice." This will be Christmas number 3 for us hoping to be expecting, but not. Sometimes it's hard not to think about all the things we're missing out on by not having children.

So how do I fix my funk? Maybe Aaron and I need to start some traditions of our own. Something that will help me feel like the holiday is special and meaningful to us as a family, not just us as members of our extended family, and not as a reminder of what we 'should' have by now.

Yes, I think this will be a great year to start some traditions. And I'm taking suggestions as to what those traditions could be!