1. Do you struggle with the commercialization of the holiday season? What helps you keep your focus when the season’s busyness and commercialism start to take over?

Sometimes, yes. I especially get irritated when I see all the dang traffic because everyone is out shopping! My focus is realigned by our nighttime movie viewings, especially the ones that are about the non-material important things in life.

2. What’s one small thing you want to savor before the year ends? 

The coziness of my house when it’s decorated. I don’t decorate a ton but each morning when I wake up and turn on the tree, I feel a calm, quietness that I don’t find any other time of the day.

3. December 9th is National Christmas Card Day. Do you still send Christmas cards? If so does yours include a photo or is it a more traditional card, or maybe homemade? How do you feel about the tradition of exchanging cards at the holidays? If Hanukkah is the holiday you celebrate in December do you send cards to mark the occasion? 

I used to always send a photo Christmas card so folks could see how the kids have grown but now, I just never remember to do it! I like the idea of sending a card and I do appreciate that some people still send them, but it’s definitely a dwindling number. I actually believe that one day, we will return to these traditions, when everyone reaches their limit with the internet.

4. What’s your least favorite holiday related task? What’s your favorite? 

I have a love/hate relationship with wrapping. It’s never bad and I pride myself on making presents look good, but sometimes an odd shaped box will make me so irritated I just want to give up.

5. Let’s do a little holiday this or that? 

• shopping or wrapping
  • wrapping
• baking or decorating
  • decorating
• eggnog or wassail
  • egg nog
• real tree or artificial
  • real, but we usually have artificial
• turkey or ham
  • ham but I never get it b/c the fam likes turkey
• white lights or colored lights
  • both! 
• ugly sweaters or matching pjs
  • ugly sweater
• peppermint or cinnamon
  • cinnamon
• presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day
  • Christmas Day, but usually one on xmas eve

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Man, I was in some kind of mood yesterday and looking back, it was so dumb. I left work a little early and had to meet Ash at the bank to sign on the loan for our AC unit, which was all fine but golly – the traffic! By the time I got all the way across town, I was fuming. Then I went into Publix and the irritation continued. Have you seen the meme that says “We need a second Costco for people who have lived on this planet before”? Because YES. It is getting worse, with people being completely unaware that they aren’t the only people in the entire effing store! So yeah, I was trying to get out of there quickly and then each thing set me off: the deli people prioritizing the pre-cut meat bagging over present people waiting to order, idiots in the aisles not moving when you say ‘excuse me’, and to top it off, the good-looking produce manager was not there. LOL. It’s silly but this guy is grade A eye candy and has no business looking that good and stocking potatoes. Sigh. Anyway, I went home to find what felt like – at the time – the worst possible thing:

I had planned to make myself a big old stuffed pepper with some leftover beef. My son tends to use ground beef I leave for him but we had a conversation Sunday afternoon about how I was going to use what was in there. So I’d planned to make the kids some kind of spaghetti, Ash wanted a sandwich only, and I had all the stuff for my pepper. Got home and my son had eaten the beef! This set me off something fierce! I just couldn’t get past it. It was trash day so while the kids did their respective tasks, I kept heaping other little things on, made their food, then kept steaming about my lost pepper meal. But my son felt bad enough about it that he ended up going out and picking me up Chipotle so then, once I was under my heated blanket and eating, I felt better. And grateful.

We watched Santa Clause 3, which I was just not feeling. I couldn’t get into the spirit of it. I said goodnight to my daughter then Ash and I watched Family Man, which I have avoided since early 2000s because the first time I saw it I didn’t like how it made me feel. But I can tell you it watches a lot differently as an adult with kids! I highly recommend it.