The holidays have always been a great time for me, and for my family. With Christmas coming up, I find myself anxiously awaiting another time like yesterday, except that maybe this time, I'll be able to control my spontaneous urge to eat myself into a food coma.
Thanksgiving itself has always been just a nice get-together with plenty of grub. Things have changed a few times over the years. We add to the family, and sometimes, the branches of the family tree grow too big to support, and they fall off, sprouting new trees to cultivate.
Christmas, on the other hand, has stayed pretty much the same. There have been some fairly big changes to the formula (my father passed away several years ago), but we try to keep everything consistent. We still have stockings as part of our presents (even though my brother and I are in our twenties now). The food is the same, if not even better. The presents, while not as plentiful now that we're grown adults, are still just as meaningful.
When I was young, these holidays seemed so much bigger. When you're a small child, things tend to look bigger by comparison, but the holiday itself - as an idea - just seemed so much grander in scale. It meant more to our family than a Black Friday sale. A crazy uncle would love to air grievances about the government, but it was funny how eloquently he put it. Going to sleep early to wake up at the crack of dawn was a given thought, and probably one of the reasons I wake up so early every day. Our dad would set up the camera, and watch us open presents - I still need to find a way to convert those old tapes into something tangible by today's standards.
Not all of these things have changed, but nothing really ever stays the same either. We grow older, we grow wiser, we grow children and families of our own. As that happens, and you start to cultivate that new beginning, I feel like that youth ultimately comes back to us.
Unrelated: My new book came out earlier this month. Check it out if you are interested. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060O7IXW
Of course, the old book is still chugging along as well: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052TSJQ6 It's actually been in Amazon's Best Seller's for the past two weeks for its genre. Huge satisfaction seeing that!
And finally, the Tellest website is coming along nicely: http://www.tellest.com/
Everyone, have a great holiday!
