Does Christmas Fall in December This Year?

If you think you're picking up some sarcasm....you are correct. If you are worried that I'm serious, you are also correct. Here is a little known secret I usually keep locked away....I have a weird view of time. For as long as I can remember, I've had a visual of the calendar in my brain that resembles a racetrack, or some kind of oval shaped game board. Yes, I know...that's crazy. But if you mention a date to me, I instantly get this image in my brain. The oval has twelve parts, each representing a month with December kind of at the very top and July/August sharing the bottom. I play the part of a game piece (if this were Monopoly, I guess I'd be the Scotti Dog) moving at lightning speed around this oval....always going counter clockwise. I have absolutely NO explanation for this. At any rate....here we go again...back to the top of the oval, about to embark on another year. Christmas is always in the same space, never moving like Easter....(who really understands how THAT is calculated?)... and am I ready for it? It's a lesson I never seem to learn. I have done my best to financially prep for the big day with my little savings account....all you Dave Ramsey fans will understand how that works....but it doesn't seem to be enough. At least not enough to deal with the emotional prep.

I spent this past Monday packing up the few little "Fall" decor items I have around the house, and then hauling the Christmas stuff down from the attic. It was an all day event, but I made it. By 9:00 p.m., my house was all twinkly and glowy with lights and candles and the various holiday nick-nacks I've accumulated over the years. Many little treasures such as the paper reindeer with antlers made from the outline of my daughter's hands.....well, I may not actually put them out on display, but I simply can not bear to part with them, so year after year, I take a peek at them, feel a little twinge at the 'ol heartstrings, and then pack them back in the bin until next year. Growing children change the holidays into something really unfamiliar. The days of asking "can we put the tree up tonight, Mom?" have turned to something more like, "when are YOU planning to put up the tree Mom?" Last year we encountered a whole new concept....opening Christmas presents BY DAYLIGHT!! No more four o'clock in the morning pleading for us to allow them to get up and open presents because "Santa" had been in OUR living room!! The gifts have changed from dollhouses and Barbie to purses and ipods.

This will be our second Christmas with a married daughter. After all the years of three girls scrambling around the tree to find their gifts and having to be forced to slow down and open only one gift at a time, we have only two at home. Two who sit calmly and sip coffee while leisurely opening their gifts and taking time to oooh and aaaah over the beautiful wrapping paper and bows. Our oldest daughter will appear at some point with her wonderful husband and we'll open more gifts and sip more coffee. It's all very grown-up and civilized.....and I miss the days of pajamas with feet in them, American Girl books, cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

My game piece is whipping around the board again and each year, I see a more advanced version of this new kind of Christmas. What will this be like when all my chickens have flown the coop...and I'm truly an empty nester? I think that is why God invented "grandchildren". So hold on......here we go again!