Happy Holiday Season

"As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same."   

                      ~ Donald E. Westlake

Ah, the holiday season. There’s a nip in the air. There are colors everywhere, from the sparkling lights in the windows of picturesque houses to the gaudy inflatable Santa your neighbor insists on putting on his front lawn every year. There is a sense of merriment and goodwill in the air as we spend time with friends and family and do our best to forgive the person who just took the last parking space at the mall.

It’s a wonderful time of year that for many people is both blissful and stressful in equal measure. There’s the unbounded joy of giving the perfect gifts to the perfect people who’ve made our life complete as well as the palpable sense of relief when in spite of the holiday rush, the delivery people get the packages to our door on time.

There’s the fun and creativity when we and those we hold dear create the perfect Christmas tree with the perfect combination of new and old ornaments as well as the astonished looks when the family cat decides we’ve created her equally perfect playground.

There are the parties, complete with their assortment of well wishes, chocolate treats that will bust our waistlines and that special kiss under the mistletoe. We’ll see people we haven’t seen all year and extend our sincere hopes that their next year turns out even better than last, even while keeping a sincere hope they aren’t shaking their head too much over the ugly Christmas sweater we are wearing.

It’s the season when after a hard day’s work we return home, discard our cynical selves and sip hot chocolate as we watch old favorites like How the Grinch Stole Christmas with childlike abandon. It may be a guilty pleasure, but Boris Karloff’s narration never gets old.

It’s the season of giving and receiving, a season of peace on Earth— at least until we suddenly discover that in the holiday rush we forgot to get batteries for all the electronic gizmos we doled out.

So here’s to the holiday season. It might be hectic and crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a great 2020!