100 Days to Christmas

With the title of this post I just shocked the pants off of many people.

Those who knows me (us) are aware that we (PE and I) do not like holidays. It isn't full on hatred but we really despise them. I think if I could exclude the religious and no birthday part of the religion, I could be a Jehovah's Witness (I don't know PE's take on this). I am sure there is more to the religion than that, but I know they don't celebrate holidays--that is the part I like.

The coolest thing about most holidays is that we get a day away from work and since we are away from WORK on that day why on earth would we want to spend the whole day cooking and cleaning aka working(Thanksgiving) and filling up the garbage can/cleaning up messes in the house aka working (Christmas)? Okay, okay, I know there is more to it than that and possibly if all of my family didn't live within a 20 minute drive I would value more the family togetherness that the holidays foster. I don't mind the gift giving. I especially enjoy making the calendars for my family and friends and I enjoy baking/cooking goodies and giving them to neighbors and people we work with--I actually do that periodically through the year anyway--so it isn't any of that, I really just don't like holidays.

One of my biggest issues with anything holiday related is retailers. Halloween stuff in the stores before school starts, not okay. Christmas stuff out before November. . .definitely NOT okay--that store is now boycotted. Is there really nothing they can fill the shelves with for those extra weeks? Evidently not.

Now before anyone goes on some tirade about, "What about your children!?!?" STOP. We celebrate. . .just in our own unique way in some instances. Halloween is one of those instances. We do not take our children Trick or Treating (or Trunk or Treating for that matter). We purchase each of them a Halloween/scaryish movie and their favorite bag of candy then we have an evening (either Halloween or the weekend before or after) of movies, treats, and we serve Corn Chowder in pumpkin shaped bread bowls for dinner. All in all that is a pretty fun night for the children. They don't seem to mind. Not to mention that now that Bug and Moo will be 15 and 14 this year, they don't really need to go trick or treating. We have friends and family that offer to take the children to their local Trunk or Treat and we most times let them go; however, I do not purchase costumes. I have purchased shirts that are Halloween themed for the kids but that is the extent to which I can support Halloween.

We accept invitations from family for Thanksgiving dinner and we attend. The one year we had Thanksgiving at our house it wasn't too bad, but my family felt a little shirked. Oh well, can't please everyone and as we already discussed I can't handle a lot of people at my house so we just go to other's houses.

So, while we dislike holidays, we still accommodate those around us by being present for most occasions even if it is for as short amount of time as possible. This is nothing against family or friends more to do with a mild phobia (dr. diagnosed) I have that deals with crowds (yes, as few as 10 people feels like a crowd to me). Not to mention that together, PE and I, feed off one another's ability to be antisocial.

I bring all of this up because this year I am trying to embrace the holidays (even if it is vicariously through someone else). As I type this I am just cringing at all that embracing the holidays means. Ick. I really don't know that I can do it. Anyway, I am going to help some of you get it together more for the holidays or just give you a resource that will hopefully help you holiday lovers to enjoy it even more (if that is possible). Today marks 100 days to Christmas. There is a website dedicated to this, http://100daystochristmas.com/ (I bet you never would have guessed). It is brought to us by the maker of List PlanIt--a great resource for various lists (I signed up for the trial membership and was able to get the lists I wanted). Go visit the 100 Days to Christmas site and subscribe so you can "...get your daily dose of holiday inspiration delivered straight to your inbox". What could possibly be better than that? (Truthfully, in my opinion, a lot of stuff, such as baking middle-sinking cupcakes, attempting to make uniform baked goods, and even the dentist are better than hearing about Christmas every.stinking.day. for the next 99 days.)

So, there you have it. A helpful, holiday-related tip from me to you. After all it is never too early to start giving!