(This post is a part of the #reverb16… what’s that? Check it out!)
I made my way back to my blog by way of #reverb16… such a relief.
I’ll probably backtrack to make-up for the first four days I missed, but hey… FIVE is my lucky number, so why not start with today? Moving right along…
Prompt #5: Just Not That Into It: Everyone has their own tipping point. What do you hate about the holidays?
There is not much I don’t like about the holidays. I have a great family, I have money to buy gifts for my loved ones. I live in New England for heaven’s sake!! It’s like the friggin HOME for the HOLIDAYS with its adorable craft fairs. Sheesh! Last weekend we drove through Bethel, Connecticut on the way to a hockey game and this was happening … literally:
This picture in NO WAY accurately depicts how much MORE Gilmore-Girl-ish this celebration was in person!
The Holidays: I LOVE IT ALL!
I love holiday specials, holiday movies (I really do love Love, Actually), holiday music — traditional and modern! I even love cold weather… recently having admitted on a highly scientific Facebook quiz that winter is my favorite season. I have no idea why!
All that being said, things are getting a shake up this 2016 (right?). In standard 20-effing-16 fashion, all the usual fun we have at the holidays has been burned to the ground.
(OK, that’s a slight exaggeration).
Usually we host my brother-in-law and his family at our house for Boxing Day and a few days after. We spend our days sleeping in, lounging, going on a traditional family ice skating outing and hiking around the lake. Topped off with lots of drinking of alcoholic drinks after 9 pm.
The Salad Days of 2014
BUT. As I mentioned. It’s 20-effing-16. So my brother-in-law, Greg (seen above with great beard) and his wife Karen, are on sabbatical in England. So no family visit to Connecticut for us this year.
Not to worry. We are going to have a ball going to balmy Ontario to visit family this year! It will be a great time to shake things up and get out of the States for awhile, shuffle around holiday traditions.
What We Mean by Aud Lang Syne
Ahhh, holiday traditions. We shape memories around them… but how often they are interrupted, re-shaped and just plain obliterated by death and, well, life.
My Dad visited recently. He was trying to decide whether to put up a Christmas tree this year. What he’s really trying to decide, though, is: what is Christmas is supposed to look like, now my mom is dead two years? Time to move on, probably. But to what?
Yeah. The beauty of nostalgia is: it is made in the dying light.
Holidays are for celebrating… but it’s been a tough year to do that.
Gift buying goes on. I’m planning on being surprised by some of the events to come, like the hearty warm hugs of my mother-in-law (she gives great hugs!), time to spoil my grown up niece and nephew, and some raucous New Year’s with Jane and Denis!
If we don’t decide to just stay in sunny Ottawa, check your mail for a postcard from Up North!
