That Old Holiday Feeling.

I'm antsy, I've got to admit it.  I don't like the holidays, never have. 

Good cheer mandated in the legislature has never appealed to me, for one thing.  Holidays, amusement parks, even golf, I resent situations where I am required to be cheerful.  Sometimes I'm just not up to it, you know?  Should I have to apologize? 

Christmas when I was a boy was a frantic round of required socializing, and, for the adults, a time of required heavy drinking.  Our parents would buy the expected gifts for us in the usual semi-conscious, haphazard fashion, and then set out to get really loaded with relatives that they did not actually care for in real life.  It was rarely enjoyable. 

I did enjoy Christmases when my boys were little.  More than that, when they were not little anymore but were still at home, and then beyond that.  When they had kind of grown up and had mostly moved out they would still sleep over on Christmas Eve so we could all wake up together on Christmas Morning.  Maybe those were the best Christmases of all, because the dear boys showed us that they had been enjoying Christmas all along.  I'm very grateful for that.  Also, in the old days, we'd always have a houseful on Christmas for a giant dinner.  And not like my childhood family, these were friends, and some of their friends who did not have anyplace else to go.  Not like a related family at all, no, we really liked each other.  Probably, anyway.  You can never tell why people do things.  We seemed to like each other anyway. 

So enjoy your holidays, dear readers.  And if you can really enjoy your holidays deep in your heart of hearts you are way ahead of the game, I can tell you.  That would be a great blessing right there.  And it's my wish for you, enjoy this sometimes magical time.  And pay no attention at all to my occasional negativity.  I was born this way, it's not your fault. 

Happy New Year!