holidays – steviawithcream

Well folks – Halloween down, Thanksgiving done, now the Christmas countdown begins.

The first two holidays were nonexistent this year. I never do the Halloween thing here since we haven’t had costumed trick-or-treating little humans in twenty years. We are a rural bedroom community north of Tucson with no street lights or sidewalks so there is just no reason to do things up. My decorations tend toward fall harvest themes inside the house. No pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts, witches or vampires in the vicinity.

Thanksgiving has, for years, been a real family time. My house tended to be the gathering place. I had plenty of room, and I enjoyed the whole process of celebrating the holiday with great food, football, laughter and love. I liked cooking the turkey, and sharing what everyone else brought to the table. I have a huge front yard where the annual Thanksgiving football game was held. Family made the effort to be together.

This year was different.

Neither of my kids could be here. Melissa and Bubba were with Vaughn family in Las Vegas. Aaron and Chelsea were in Florida and Oklahoma respectively and Aaron was working at his Disney World tech gig. My sisters had their own family things, and my mom was attending a huge Thanksgiving feast at her retirement apartments. Chuck got a notice from the University of Arizona asking employees and their families for help feeding the troops at Davis Monthan AFB who were staying in town for the holiday, so we signed up-ready to volunteer. We made a big mistake on the date, expecting it to happen on Thanksgiving day at the UA campus. At the last minute I discovered it was scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving and at the base! We totally blew it. Chuck was working that day and I hadn’t cooked anything or made any purchases, so that fell through.

We decided to keep with the volunteer idea and I started checking for places to help out. I found out that the Salvation Army did a Thanksgiving meal at St. Demetrius church so I started calling and emailing to put our names in the hat. Granted we were down to the wire time wise, so I wasn’t sure what would happen, but so be it. We never heard a word from anyone telling us yes, no or get lost. No return phone calls, no email reply. Nothing. So…Thanksgiving was just a day off for Chuck that we spent cleaning, doing outdoor chores, moving some furniture, binge watching Hallmark Christmas movies and just hanging out looking at all the pictures on Facebook of Thanksgiving feasts others were having.

Now we are planning Christmas. Melissa will be here with Bubba so it will be very fun having a wee one here. It is our first Christmas as Nannie and Poppa. Aaron will still be in Florida working and Chelsea will still be in Oklahoma. Hopefully my mom will be sharing Christmas eve with us which will be our Christmas meal since Chuck has to go to work at 1pm Christmas day. Yet we will be decorated and festive!!

How has your holiday season been so far?

Cheers!

-N

My husband was here for two weeks as is his routine: work two weeks, home two weeks. Well I realized when he is here the usual things that I do get totally scrambled. I did zero sewing, blogging or writing, I cooked way too much and consequently ate way too much. He flew back to North Dakota this morning and now it’s time to regroup. I love having him here but after two weeks of looking after myself, his always welcome presence, turns things around for me.

It’s all good though.

Millie is really growing. She weighs fifty lbs, is at least three feet tall when sitting and getting her big dog teeth. She’s still got a bit of puppy brain at six months old and easily gets distracted, but for the most part she is doing pretty well. She absolutely loves Chuck and when he is here she is his shadow. Sometimes though she will get into things and he runs her off back to me! That doesn’t last too long before she is back at his heels. She also snores when she sleeps and groans when she stretches-funny!

While Chuck was here the whole scary mess in Paris happened. It was the first time in a long time I actually watched the news on TV. I usually get my news from brief updates online. I hate watching the news channels. I don’t understand people who watch constantly. If I had the news on all day my brain would explode. I kept switching between CNN and Fox to get a more complete picture of the heartbreaking event. After a few hours over a couple of days I had a scary moment so similar to 9/11. Chuck and I were in a public place and I started looking at the crowds moving around me, I was watching their faces and behaviors and felt an insecure panic. I felt unsafe. I held onto Chuck’s hand all the time.

I never got to go to New York to visit the twin towers and I always wanted to. It was a place I wanted to stand on top of and look out on that city. Paris is another place I have always wanted to go and here it seemed I might miss out on it also. I was angry and frustrated by the evil of the actions. I don’t understand killing and injuring people who don’t agree with your ideology to make a point. The terrorists were more than making a point, this was intended to create fear and subordination in others.

We will all bear the scars in our minds and hearts.

With the holidays coming I will be spending them without Chuck. He is working Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. At least I will be able to be with Melissa for those days. I will also get to see Aaron and Chelsea after Christmas. My kids will cheer my heart. There is also Skype for Chuck!!

Now it’s time to hit the pages of my newest literary creation in progress!

-N