I need to post, but if I read one more thing about Thanksgiving....

It's been a while since my last post. Yes, I blame The Holidays.

It's fair to blame anything that happens between about mid-November and mid-January on The Holidays. (Because you are preparing from mid-November and still getting over them until mid-January; what? you aren't? Well I am, so I'm still blaming it the way I see it.)

I could certainly tell you a story about how fun Thanksgiving was (it was), and how all of the nearby (and a couple of the far away) family came to our house this year (12 adults plus Eme), but the cooking was really no problem (it wasn't; thanks for all of the help, family!).

I could also discuss all of the things I'm thankful for (really, too many to count) and what I've done with my blessings this year ("Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving." ~ W. T. Purkiser).

I'm not going to do that. I have been reading about (talking about, thinking about -- you could say devouring) everything Thanksgiving related for the past few weeks, and I'm pretty much done now.

I know, it's Christmas soon so I have to be ready. I know I'm supposed to start decorating, and if we don't have a tree this year I expect some people will really be upset (although, frankly, I don't think Eme will mind; it's the people who think Eme shouldn't be deprived that you have to watch out for).

Truly, it's not that I don't enjoy holidays. I do.

I enjoy time with family. I enjoy sitting around the table and chatting, and seeing people you don't get to see often enough, and feeling that there really IS goodwill in the world.

It's when those things are overshadowed by the present-buying, and the "did-I-get-the-right-gift-for-them"-ing, not to be outdone by the "should-we-really-make-this-much-food-and-what-if-no-one-likes-what-I've-cooked"-ing, and the "my-neighbor's-decorations-look-really-nice-oh-crap-do-I-have-to-go-buy-Christmas-lights"-ing. While we're listing things, I also have trouble with the "if-you-don't-make-me-a-list-you're-getting-coal"-ing, and the "you-HAVE-to-have-a-Christmas-tree!"-ing, and all of the many variations (insert your holiday traditions here) of all of the above.

It is with all of the pressures we put on ourselves (and on our friends and family to fit into our notion of the right way to do things) that the holidays become The Holidays.

Now, please PAY ATTENTION for just a moment before I start getting phone calls and emails from family members asking if I'm talking to THEM and if THEY are the ones I'm talking about putting pressure on me because they certainly don't mean to.

I know.

Every one of us does it to every other one of us without meaning to.

I'm sorry that I wanted mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving last year and forced my sister to make them mashed even though she was planning to do it a different way because mashed is really the only "right" way to have them at Thanksgiving. I mean, if you're me. Or if you're my other sister who whined with me until we got our way.

I'm sorry to anyone who felt that pictures of Eme were a cop-out of a Christmas gift last year. Really, that's all we could come up with.

I'm sorry that I am even writing this right now, because I've got the feeling that even with my admonitions above there will be someone who thinks I'm talking directly to them. I swear to you, I'm not. If you can't see that this is all about me, then you haven't been reading my blog very closely. Everything's about me. Or about Eme.

When it comes down to why I'm publishing this post anyway (even though it makes me sound like a total curmudgeon, and I'm really not like that, am I?), I've only got one thing to say for myself....

I blame The Holidays.

And I love you all!

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