Comments on: Home for the Holidays

By: Nicki

Nicki — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:40:49 +0000

I remember trying to decide that it was time to make my own holidays with my own family. It took a long time. I use to think I could get to all the other family events and still have my own. Looking back, I am not sure how I survived.

Emotions are always conflicted at this time of year – memories of having a lot or not having enough, memories of what Mom & Dad or Grandma & Grandpa did, the way things were done when we were younger. It is hard to find “your own way” with all that has shaped and formed your life. It is possible, though, and you will have a wonderful Christmas this year.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:56:50 +0000

I remember the agony when I thought about ever being anyplace else but home with my roots for Christmas. But I’v grown to love being home – my home – for Christmas. Family and friends are welcome our way, but we’re happier staying put.

I know those skinny jeans, I have them in two sizes with their own belt and place on the shelf just for those special, “I might run into someone I know from old school”, times.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:45:45 +0000

This will be my second Christmas without family. Last year we had an off-grid California Christmas; this year a suburban Oregon X-mas. Basically, last year, I felt like Christmas never came, which is perhaps why I was still singing Christmas carols into spring. But the difference last year was that we were surrounded by kind and caring people—many of them also displaced and far from home. It was a mixture that worked and in the end it was a lovely holiday.

Thanksgiving was nice yesterday. I actually preferred planning my own day and fabulous meal to the usual obligatory dinner at my aunt’s with dogs jumping on the counter to lick the turkey, or hanging and drooling into your lap, my uncle’s hippy friend feeding chocolate to my dog even when I ask him not to, my aunt’s in-laws (the biggest know-it all’s in the world) somehow ending up on my end of the table and telling me about their genius children and how Rush Limbaugh is their God, and trying to be polite and make conversation by yelling and repeating myself to my grandmother’s half deaf/half blind friend, Dorothy.

The difference last year, though, was we were sheltered from the hum-drum of the holidays up on our mountain in Northern California. This year, as we returned from a walk at Smith Rock National Park, I noticed all the cars in people’s driveways, families inside laughing, kids outside throwing the football. A sudden cloud loomed over my head and I went directly to the couch when we got home, curled up with my pup and left the world for a bit in a deep slumber. My husband felt bad enough to play my favorite game with me BananaGrams, which he usually refuses.

It is kind of peculiar how when we branch off, we both are and aren’t with our families. Sebastien and Cosmo are my family and they are such a comfort to me and I like that holiday’s mean time off and more time with my boys.
Have a good one, everyone!