On Holidays

I'm not a huge holiday girl.

My own mother can attest to this- I was always the "bah humbug" of the family.... Sure, I would help decorate the Christmas tree (and ALWAYS participate in opening of gifts!) but for the most part I really never got into the "spirit" of holidays. Not sure why, really... I guess I never really felt a need to break out of the normal day-to-day routine.

This held very true while I was stationed overseas... Richard and I exchanged a small gift on valentines day... went out to dinner for our anniversary... for Easter we baked a Ham and invited our neighbor over, since his wife was out of the country that year, and Thanksgiving we had the Mormon Missionaries over for Turkey breast- couldn't fit an entire turkey in our oven even if we tried!!.

Christmas was as out-of-norms as it could get. My first solo Christmas was after being in South Korea for less than a month- I arrived in country on the 3rd of December. I ended up going to one of my buddies room and watching "It's a Wonderful Life" with him, since that was OUR family tradition that I was not about to end. We went to the chow hall for "Christmas Lunch" where all the single Airman were served by the Majors, Colonels, and Commanders of the various squadrons. The next year I was able to spend with Richard, and we opened our gifts over webcam, and watched my family back home open our gifts for them. I was VERY tired... we had to stay up till nearly 2 am to participate in their 11am celebration. We didn't buy a Christmas tree...we didn't have a big Christmas meal... we were just kinda "there".

Last year was no different. Richard and I couldn't go home for Christmas because I didn't have the leave to spare. We spent an extra week in California to be home with his sick Dad, so Christmas at our house was rather boring...no tree, no music... just a pregnant belly and Rich was working at the BX.

Why bring this up, you ask? Because this year it's going to be different. This year will be our first "real" holiday as a family. We'll have a "real" house, with "real" furniture, "real" decorations, and for the first time in 3 years...a real celebration. While I may have been Scrooge when It comes to holidays, Mom sure made up for it. She LOVED her traditions... and we never broke them if we could help it. She has at least 3 huge tupperwear containers full of holiday decorations, Christmas especially. Now it's my turn to start collecting (and creating!) my own holiday decorations, and traditions.

This year, all the families (minus my sister, who is stuck over in England till next year) will be meeting at my new home in California for Thanksgiving. It's going to be a pot-luck, with us providing the Turkey and the families providing the fixin's. Our new house is centrally located to meet everyone's needs... My sister-in-law's family lives nearby, so the brother and her can stop by on their way home, instead of having to drive all the way there and back. My Mother-in-law is close enough to drive there, and doesn't have to worry about cooking for all the Grandkids. It'll be great for everyone, and hopefully... the start of a NEW tradition.

The next question is... where will I find the time to start making my wonderful Thanksgiving decorations?!