Goodbye Festivus, hello holiday overdose.
Despite the fact that I lack a DIY gene, I’ve decided that
with only two winters left before the boys move away for university, I’d
finally put some effort toward the holidays and “dress up” our home. This may
be a total no-brainer for most, but for me the idea of succumbing to the
holiday madness makes me break out in a cold sweat. Maybe it’s because my
mother transformed our home into a Christmas fantasy every year and when I
moved out on my own the idea of recreating it seemed not only impossible, but
somewhat ridiculous. I didn’t mean to forgo the holiday pomp and circumstance
for so long, but somewhere in between leaving my parents’ home and having kids
of my own, whatever joy I may have found in the holiday season hardened into a lump
of bah-humbug coal. My inner cynic got the best of me and rather than find
pleasure in the festivities of the season, all I could see was the callous over
consumption and bad holiday music that assaulted me by late October. I always
felt holiday burn-out long before the holidays ever arrived. It was easier to be
a Christmas grump rather than carve out traditions of our own. Even after the boys were old enough to enjoy
the holidays, I just couldn’t muster the energy or desire to do much. If
anything I was the holiday Grinch, holding out for as long as possible before
getting a tree (did you know you can get a tree for $5 if you wait until Dec.
24th!) or doing anything more than duct taping stockings somewhere
near the fireplace.
This is now our second winter season in Canada and maybe
because Thanksgiving here is celebrated in early October, there is no energy
around the traditional Black Friday that always brings headlines of people
being crushed in the stampede to buy that new HD television marked down at
Wal-Mart. It seems like there is a slower lead-up to Christmas here. I have yet
to hear any holiday music being played in any store, and only now am I starting
to see Christmas decorations being put out in earnest. Don’t get me wrong, the
consumption machine is slowly eating its way beyond the 49th
parallel, but it has yet to arrive here in full-force. Mostly you read about
the Canadians who are masochistic enough to travel across the border to be able
to take part in all the Black Friday sales. Have these people put no value on
their time? I mean, enduring the grinding crawl to cross the border so that
they can then endure longer queues once they arrive at their big-box
destination, can hardly pencil out!
Quinn and Logan have often felt short-changed when it comes
to holiday decorating. Hell, they’ve often felt short-changed when it comes to
anything related to the holidays. Probably in direct response to my foot-dragging
over the years, they seem to favor my mother’s enthusiasm for this time of year. So I'm giving in and giving them the Christmas bonanza they’ve desired for
so long.
I’m going from this:
To this:
I have no agenda other than excess. A million blinking
lights strung throughout the house? Sure. Reindeer cutouts hung on our windows?
Sounds good. A flaming wreath around my
neck? Why not. If it’s holiday related, it’s fair game. And how am I doing with
all this you ask? Surprisingly chill. In fact, I’m sort of excited. Maybe it’s
because my friend Karen has a batch of boozed-up eggnog aging in her fridge, or
maybe I’m finally relaxing about the whole holiday stupidity and am just
succumbing to the madness. I figure I can do this for the boys for two years
and then it’s back to Festivus for the Rest of us!
