I love the holidays.  The food, all the excuses to get together with friends and family…I can put baby girl in really cute dresses! 😉  Kailan doesn’t allow me to dress him anymore, so that’s a lost cause.  I have such a nice little suit for him in the closet, too…

Mostly I love the feeling of the holidays.  It is as if a bit of goodness and merriment leaks into even the most miserly soul.  Maybe its all perception, but the season feels BEAUTIFUL to me.  Beautiful is a bit all encompassing.  It means, of course, all the lovely decorations and fancy clothes.  It also means that people’s attitudes are beautiful.  They are more patient, happier and more giving.

This is not to say that our lives are not stressful during the holidays.  We have meals to plan, presents to buy and babysitters to coerce into our employ.  Talk about stress!  It doesn’t get much worse!

It is stress, however, that has a good end.  Lovely parties, embraces of friends and family you rarely see but think of often, and hopefully exhortations of joy from your gift recipients.

As presents go, I must say that your attitude changes greatly from when you were a child.  As a child you were so super-duper excited about opening YOUR presents.  As an adult, you are so super-duper excited for others to open THEIR presents that you gave them…hoping you chose the perfect gift, or at the worst a gift that they won’t be running to the store to return since they can’t stand having it in their possession.  You know, like a dead deer Christmas ornament.