I’m not sure if I should apologize now, or wait until after the fact. But I have no doubt there will be an apology to make by the end of this Holiday Season, as there usually is. Thankfully we were married on January 3rd, so we go away for one of our mini-getaways following the Christmas Holiday. To celebrate our Anniversary, and to just exhale from all the work that goes by the title Christmas Holidays.

During the preparations for the Holidays, my husband sees his fun loving wife turn into this manic,driven, snarling demon, caught up in the activities of Holiday shopping,decorating, wrapping and cleaning. OK I’m not exactly the one who does ALL of this on my own. But it’s a lot of work bossing everyone to and fro to make sure all is complete and ready for Holiday cheer. To my hubby’s credit, he allows for me to play manager, and he takes on the role of labor. Unfortunately I’m not what you would call a diplomatic boss, which brings us back to the apology I’ll be making.

The mania that will set in like clockwork the day after Thanksgiving, can be seen in my eyes, voice and posture. It will take every ounce of my discipline to not allow it to completely fluster me leading to 1.2 emotional meltdowns. Convinced that if each chore and activity isn’t complete, it will ruin the Holiday for all. In reality, it is my meltdowns that will come the closest to upsetting the balance of Family Holiday Cheer.

This year, I strive to not let it get the best of me. When it builds, to back off and away, take some deep breaths, and relax. Unfortunately what this means to my blog, is I will dump all crazy mania and emotion here. The closet bitch will be unleashed out into cyberspace, where it can’t damage family dynamics. (I’ll make my apologies now)

This year, following Thanksgiving, possibly starting Thanksgiving evening, I will attempt the impossible. Wife, Mother and Holiday Coordinator Extraordinaire.

In my family of origin many of us worked jobs that required actually working on Christmas Day. My mother is a nurse in a hospital, my brother a State Trooper, I worked in a Hospital pharmacy. We were accustomed to changing the Holiday Celebration to another day on a fairly regular basis. Some years Christmas would be celebrated on New Years, or sometimes the week prior to Christmas, to accommodate everyone’s work schedule. This also worked out well where spouses family celebrations were concerned. My sisters husband could celebrate on the Holiday or the night before. As well as mine and my brothers respective spouses.

The hardest adjustment in moving out of state, was not being part of my family celebrations. I loved planning them, and of course bossing everyone around. (First child syndrome, don’t blame me) I missed being part of these gatherings, and I know they missed having me. OK they mainly missed my children, but I think they missed me a little. I know my parents did anyway. 

This year, mom and dad are coming to Arizona to celebrate a Christmas with the 3T family! Yes, I’m excited!! And a little nervous. The closest they could come to the Holiday (for time off work) was the first week-end in December. What I am going to attempt is to have all Christmas Prep work (i.e.; decorating, shopping, wrapping and cleaning) DONE, by the time they arrive on December 1st! I will have eight days to do what I normally will spend a full month completing. Just the thought can throw me into a full blown meltdown.

But I will do my best to take each activity as it comes, and not look at the whole picture. Even though right at this moment the nausea is setting in.

I love my folks dearly, and want this visit to be special, and serve as the Christmas Holidays that I have missed over the last four years. Lofty goal, I know. But I’m going to give it my best.

Which means my time spent writing posts and reading during this period will be greatly diminished. Thinking ahead, what I have decided, is it will be my actual updates that will suffer. I love reading blogs, and to some extent this is less time consuming. So my posts will be fewer and further in between, allowing for me to read others. (Which face it, being funloving, I enjoy reading more then writing)

If per chance, you stumble in here and see a crazed and manic post, I ask you to bear with me. The insanity will let up, when the Holidays do. With it, I’ll return to my normal melodramatic self.

In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!

3T