My love/hate relationship with December

This time of year is my favorite and least favorite, all at the same time.  I love Christmas! I love giving gifts to people. I love it even more now than before, because I can’t wait to see the look on Jade’s face when she opens her presents this year. I love baking and parties.  It is great!

But, there are a few things that I don’t like about this time of year.  1. My husband hates this time of year, so he’s extra cranky and miserable, which I don’t like.  2. I don’t do well at all with cold dry weather.  My skin cracks. I can’t stop drinking water. I’m uncomfortable.  It’s just terrible. 3. I’m too busy.  I hate rushing from one place to the next, and with 2 parties per day on each weekend day, that’s all we do is rush from one place to the next.

So, I have to make some adjustments to try to make the miserable go away.

First, I bake more.  This makes me happy because I have more stuff to give to other people.  Plus, it keeps the house warmer, which helps with that cold problem.  The downside is that it makes my diet plans more difficult, since I have to taste everything I make before it goes out to make sure that it is ok.  Ugh!

Second, I like to buy for just about everyone I know.  This has had to cut back quite a bit since Jade was born, since our income was cut in half for me to stay at home with my beautiful Jade, but I still buy quite a bit of stuff.  Of course, this is not good for our pocket-book and my husband’s mood, so I’m cutting back even more each year.  The one thing that makes both of us happy, though, is getting stuff for Jade, so I’m making up for it there.

One big problem for Christmas, though.  I want my daughter to wake up Christmas morning in her own bed to be greeted with Santa’s presents.  This means that we don’t get to see any of my family, since my Mom, Dad, Sister, etc. are all in Michigan. I’ve tried making arrangements to see my brother down in Palm Beach, but I’m not holding my breath on that one.  We get to see my husband’s family, since most of them are right here.

I grew up with a big Christmas Eve dinner at my Grandma’s and then a big Christmas lunch at my Grandpa’s.  It was really cool.  Now, we have a big Christmas Eve dinner at my husband’s Granny’s and we used to have his sister (and daughter), step-sister (and family), and Mom over for breakfast and presents on Christmas morning.  Well, it doesn’t look like the morning thing is going to happen this year (or at least not in its original form). I want to start traditions with her, but no one is cooperating.

I just keep looking at her smile and we’re all happy after that.