Your yearly holiday reminder

It’s that time again. Today is November first, which means Nanowrimo, and the start of the holiday season. Well, as far as I’m concerned the holiday season never really ends. There’s always something to celebrate.

I understand that for some of you, that’s a terrifying theory. That’s because a lot of people take the holidays way too seriously.

Every year I write a blog post about this and I swear I’m going to do it every single year. #Sorrynotsorry because everyone needs to hear this over and over again until we all internalize it and believe it.

I know I do.

The holidays, all of them, are only what we make of them. They are as flexible and fluid as you allow them to be. There should be absolutely no pressure on your shoulders whatsoever to have the perfect holiday. Because what the perfect holiday looks like is a different thing to everyone!

That’s it, that’s all! You don’t owe your family a Currier and Ives Christmas. You owe them a happy you. And you owe that to yourself, too. Now, all that being said, I do love holiday. I celebrate a lot in December, including Christmas, Yule, my beloved husband’s birthday, anNew Year. I do this by following one very simple rule, ruthlessly.

I only do things for the holidays that my family and I actually want to do. 

I love decorating the house, but by that, I mean putting up like four decorations, including my Charlie Brown replica tree.

I love baking, but everyone in the house is either diabetic or has cholesterol issues, so I save that for the specific holidays. We don’t have a cookie platter.

I love buying gifts, but I love making them more. 

Of course, what I love best about the holidays is enjoying a glass of mulled wine while I read A Christmas Carol. My family and I love best watching movies, so we’ve got a whole list of our favorites to get through. I love special teas and holiday coffees. I love seeing good friends and exchanging gifts on Yule. 

The trick is, I don’t do have to’s. I don’t have anything that I have to do. I have things that I want to do. I want to get up early to write. I want to go to work so I can pay my bills and buy ice cream for my dog. I want to do everything I do in a day, even if I don’t enjoy it. I don’t love cleaning the cat box, or sweeping off the back porch or going to work. I do love having a healthy cat, a clean porch and, you know, food.

But I do love the holidays. I allow myself space and time to love them. Because life is too damn short not to.

Happy holidays.