merry hallowgiving...

For those of you that know me well, Halloween is the holiday which trumps all others for me. It's the one day each year where mischief is expected and you can be anything you want. The air smells great, the leaves are changing, and people actually leave their homes to interact with neighbors.

This year, I feel like the three holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas), are all occurring while Alexis is still too young to appreciate them. No need to dress up a 2.5 month old...costumes are expensive, it'll never fit again, and she's too young to go trick or treating anyway (and this, coming from me, is insanity). Thanksgiving...well that's easy. She can't eat solid food. We'll give her an extra 2 ounces and loosen her diaper. Then there's Xmas.

You'd all be impressed by the story my parents would tell us so that we believed that Santa flew over from Germany. Xmas was fun when I was young. As I got older, it was much less about "tis the season" and more about "this person bought me something so I need to get them something and they probably spent this much so I have to too". Malls are decorated before we've even thought about what costume we should get for Halloween. It's cold, you get fatter...it's just not my cup of tea. I'm just not a fan of Xmas...haven't been for years now.

I'm will return to the dark side though, since I feel like having a child will completely change Xmas. It'll rejuvenate it...remind us what the essence of the holiday is. BUT, this year she is only going to be 4 months old. She will not understand Santa except for admiring the color red. She won't really know what an Xmas tree is (the dogs will be more interested in eating the ornaments). Presents? Can't unwrap them. We of course still anticipate and appreciate gifts she'll receive. A jumperoo will be coming from Omi and Opi, and Grammy loves to give gifts too. Surrogate Aunts and Uncles will bring offerings like the wise men did to the manger (Is that right? I don't know any of that stuff.). Jamie and I will get her something that she can have as a keepsake that she can look at when she's older and know that it came from her first Xmas. We won't get her much else, since any other money will go toward diapers, formula, or childcare!

Next year and for years thereafter, THEN we'll decorate a tree, have Santa's snacks out, open presents as the sun rises, have pancakes, etc. It will be fun and we'll be able to create our own traditions, something that warms my heart (awww...how cute).
But for now, bah humbug. Well...just bah...I'll give in a little, and I have no idea what a humbug is anyway.