Naughty or Nice?

The holidays really are a defining time.  If you choose to ignore them, you are a scrooge.  If you embrace them, you are an annoying Christmas-sweater-wearing type.  My friends’ posts recently on Facebook and Twitter were telling.  “Let the madness that is December begin” or “I just had a weekend that didn't feel like a weekend. #tired”

It’s tough finding the sweet spot that works for yourself and your family.  Everyone has different energy levels, budgets and amounts of free time.  I used to think that the key was organization and planning and that if I scheduled everything just right, I would survive the holidays victorious.  I shopped ahead of time, ordered photo cards before Thanksgiving, decorated when my curmudgeonly husband was out of town.  I tried to keep the stress of the holidays to myself by getting craftier and smarter every year, hoping to beat the mayhem, expense, and marathon-style events.

What I have found is that there is no winning at this game. My down-to-earth friend who I thought was so sane showed up at school last week with pine needles in her hair because she wrestled a Christmas tree out of the back of her SUV, up a flight of stairs, and into her home by herself.  I am sure she will decorate it by herself this year, too, as her boys are teenagers now and I’ve never seen a straight male over the age of 12 hang anything on a tree. 

I have a pact with the Professor to keep things to a dull roar, mainly because we are Jewish, but also because I admire and respect his sensibilities.  He grew up in an apartment in Manhattan where everyone valued movies and Chinese food and good moods over homemade turkeys, decorated homes and lots of alcohol.

The problem is I enjoy Christmas lights, holiday parties, and opening the cards and gifts that arrive in the mail.  I don’t want to be a free rider, so how can I receive if I don’t give?  Would it still feel like Christmas if all of my friends stopped decorating and hosting and just went and volunteered for a cause they found important and simply told me about it the next time I bumped in to them at the market?

It seems the balancing act of our lives is magnified most in December.  I really do wish everyone peace on earth…finding a way to achieve it would make this the most wonderful time of the year.