For those of you who don’t really know me I’ll give you the short version…I’m a scrooge, a grinch, a…however you want to say it, I hate Christmas. There are a lot of reasons as to why but I won’t go into all them right now. Let’s just say that for me Christmas is usually a time of stress, disappointment and waste. I hate the idea of giving presents to someone because I have to or getting one because someone felt like they had to buy it for me…what an awful idea! I hate the stress of getting everything in the house to look perfect because someone may come over for a couple hours. I hate the stress of getting everyone together so that we can be here or there or where ever on time…or the stress that happens when we’re late. And trust me, trying to get eight or more people together and somewhere on time is not easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’ve never had a good Christmas or that I’m looking to ruin Christmas for anybody else, I’ve just had enough bad holidays that I’d just as soon skip it.
So, this year I’m sure you can imagine I was not looking forward to Christmas at all. But, since there was no way for me to skip it I bought all my presents (I’ll admit it, I got all excited about wrapping them and couldn’t wait to see them be opened) and braced myself, planning to just survive this holiday without too much damage…
….and somehow, I had a wonderful time. It was so wonderful going to my Grandparents house Christmas Eve and seeing some of my Aunts and Uncles. Then, when we got home late that night, there wasn’t any of the usual last minute stress of wrapping presents because it was all already done. In fact, I stayed up having a really nice conversation with my mom and sister Naomi until 1:30am. Around 9am (not too early, thank goodness) my excited ten year old sister Anna woke me up and we had a great time opening presents and eating breakfast. Then I took a nap, hung out with people and then helped with Christmas dinner. The one sad part of the day was the fact that my brother Greg and his family are in Brazil and therefore couldn’t be with us, I really missed seeing them like we usually do on Christmas. Other than my holiday could hardly have been better.
Next Christmas I will probably celebrate Christmas at my own home, but I will never forget this Christmas and how perfect it was to just be with my family. *big smile*
Duke of Earle
Good for you, Abi. It can be fun, can’t it?
Like a lot of other things in life we think are nasty. I guess there’s a lesson in there someplace.
John