Holidays Schmolidays

Another Christmas and New Year have come and gone in the blink of an eye.  Well, at least I can be grateful it went by fast and was relatively painless.  You see, Christmas is one of my least favorite times of the year.  (Right after Single's Awareness Day, otherwise known as Valentine's Day)  I know what you are thinking, who hates Christmas?  Well, let's see, there's Scrooge, the Grinch and me! Christmas as a kid is about wonder and magic and presents and as an adult its more about stress and financial ruin.  This year I did not buy a single Christmas present until the weekend before and by then I was in an all out panic to get it all done in time.  Partly because I didn't have funds until then and mostly because I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it was time for Christmas again.

See, I'll be 100% honest here, the holidays suck worse when your single.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of family and friends, but it's not the same.  About 90% of the time, I enjoy my single status, I actually revel in it.  Especially when most of the non-single types are always sharing their relationship woes with me.  I'm all, ha, ha - No one complains to me this or that isn't done.  Well, except my teenage daughter but I can ignore her and it's not a big deal.  That other 10% of the time? Well, I just muddle through the feelings of being lesser because I'm alone.  They don't last long and I know I'm single by choice mostly but it's just harder to keep that in mind during the holidays when every commercial on TV is some happy couple doing something or other.  The Zale's commercials alone make me stabby.  My family came to visit me and it was wonderful having them. I'll admit by the time I bundled them off home I was completely ready for some alone time.

So, back on topic, I much prefer Halloween. It's all about fun and dressing up and for one night you can pretend you are someone else, anyone else.  Heck, you can pretend you're anyTHING else for that matter.  The only thing holding you back is your imagination..  It won't financially ruin you, unless you live in a neighborhood like mine where you have to start buying candy in early September to start storing up. I go through about $100 of candy every year, but it's worth it to see all the kids in their costumes roaming up and down the streets and having the time of their lives.  It's so much fun!!  I look forward to it every year.

The only thing I hate is that every year Halloween stuff starts appearing in stores around the end of August.  I know what you are thinking, why would that make me mad if Halloween is my favorite holiday?  Because, at the end of August, I'm buying back to school supplies and don't have funds for Halloween yet.  By the time, I'm ready to buy Halloween stuff, it's been relegated to one to two shelves in the store to make way for Christmas crap, this happens around the end of September. By the time Halloween rolls around it looks like Santa's Wonderland in every store you go in.  I swear if the stores could get away with putting out Christmas decorations after Fourth of July, they would. Wonder why it is the year seems to go by so fast?  I blame retailers.  One holiday at a time folks and let's keep the decoration selling to the appropriate month!  Christmas is barely over with before you start seeing Valentines Day crap on the shelves.  I am NEVER mentally prepared for all that pink.  I hate a day that tells says you HAVE to be romantic.  That's kind of kills the romance for me.  You shouldn't plan romance.

Anyway, back to the point, if I had one, I'm grateful the Holidays are behind us. Trying to look at this new year as a fresh start with all kinds of exciting possibilities.  I am kind of against resolutions, but I do need to make some goal lists and post them where I can see them.  One of my goals is to WRITE MORE.  So you can expect to hear more from me this year.  Hopefully, that's a good thing.