Christmas is Coming!

My bride and I have entered into a very interesting time in our journey. Our kids are all grown, have all gotten off my payroll, found wonderful mates, and begun producing some of the finest grandkids ever..Each of our kids chose to ignore our advice, marry an orphan. They all chose to marry people from big families, with holiday traditions and holiday plans. So, my bride and I have to accommodate to holidays where we either have the entire crew (what we refer to as the "good" holiday) or have a much quieter holiday (what we refer to as the "sucky" holiday) The quiet holidays are actually not that bad. We get some time to do some things and spend time with people we might not normally visit.

And with all that said, this is our "good" Christmas. All the kids and kids-in-laws and grandkids are headed our way. Now let me tell you a little about my bride, this chick LOVES holidays..all of them. She sends care packages to the grandkids for Valentine's Day with red and white M&Ms. She sends a care package on July 4th, birthdays, graduations, Thanksgiving. But her favorite, by far - not even close, is Christmas. She has, over the years, collected an impressive assortment of snowmen. We pulled all this down from the attic the week of Thanksgiving and before I knew it we had an entire battalion of snowmen camped on the hearth, awaiting their posting, some to the mantle, some to shelves, some just posted randomly around the house. It is not uncommon to find a snowman still at his post in mid-March. Sort of like those Japanese soldiers they used to find on those little atolls in the Pacific, not knowing if the war was over, but thrilled to be found and sent home.

So my bride loves everything about the event, the shopping, the planning, the anticipation. The only thing that makes her cranky is my lower key approach to the entire event. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but the comparison to the level of enthusiasm as compared to my bride gets me branded as a Grinch. Comparing our attitude towards the holiday is like comparing my golf game to Tiger Wood's (although with his distractions right now I might could make a game of it) I love the time together, the memories that this holiday throws off like so much confetti, the food, the laughter, the good tears, the hugs, the snuggling, and simply the time together. It is the realization that time is not on our side, the Christmases left are fewer than the ones ahead.

So here is to those who find the joy in the season whether as the Christmas believer or the anywhere along the spectrum. And especially to my bride..the greatest gift of my life, thank you for being you.

Godpeed
Don