Growing up Thanksgiving was the Holiday in our family. Not Christmas or Easter but Thanksgiving. This was the day that no matter who was fighting, sick, lived out of town or had really, really pissed off in-laws , everyone and I mean everyone had their butts at the turkey table. Traditions were staunch: Grandmas chocolate covered cherries, orange jell-o with whip cream, olives and more olives, the “goodie” table, women gossiping, men shooting guns, leftovers being pulled out only minutes after the last dish was washed and of course a game of Yatzee over several bottles of wine to end the day. So given my great love for Thanksgiving I have always been highly sensitive to the Christmas season staring before Thanksgiving is over. Two things in particular drive me up a freaking wall: Christmas tree’s up before the Friday after Thanksgiving and that damn Christmas music that starts the day after Halloween.
However…as the commercial says, Children change EVERYTHING.
We were in the car about two weeks ago and Rock Star heard Springsteen’s version of Santa Clause is Coming to Town and went Ape Shit. We rocked out booties off. Funny thing it was a super warm day and we had the sunroof open and the windows down and I thought how bizarre this was (especially for a girl who grew up in Michigan when winter starts about August 12). Ever since that first song, the kids go bananas in the car when I turn on the Christmas station. I literally used to come out of my skin this time of year hearing Christmas songs and now, because my kids are full of giggles and excitement, I find myself singing my guts out with sheer joy. And then there is today. November 22, FOUR days BEFORE Thanksgiving, and my family is putting up the Christmas tree and the outside lights. Yep. I am a goner. The begging for decorations and lights has been relentless since the first Halloween light was spotted mid-October, I give. I happily give as my heart now clings to the joy of my kids versus the memories of my own childhood. Times are a changin’ my friends.
So , A Very Merry Christmas To All! Oh yeah, and Happy Thanksgiving.
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