November 21, 2025. No Peer Pressure

I gave in. Not because our neighborhood and many others in town are lit like a drunken wino, but because I figured if I didn't get to it, I may not put anything up at all. I enjoy seeing it, just not at my house. 

Along with navigating a rather epic birthday, I'm not finding myself in the mood for festivities. I should not let world events dictate how I feel, but my emotions are all over the place.

I found myself at an impasse yesterday and decided that if I was going to decorate, I'd better do it. Not for myself, but I do have my kids coming for Christmas. Some effort, however minimal, would be appreciated, I'm sure.

So though I left an entire tote untouched, I do have two trees up. A garland on the front window and some silver bells are the extent of my outdoor decor. The little tree in our room has but lights and a wooden garland, just enough. The bigger tree hasn't much more than that; fur snowballs, gingerbread ornaments, and a wooden bead garland help the lights finish up that look. Simple elegance or plain laziness? Another thing for which I will not apologize. It's up.

There are winter pillows on the sectional, and all three beds. Rambo has his stocking hung on his crate. Wall art celebrates winter. The fireplace has John Deere tractor lights wound in a green garland draped on the mantel.

Sadly, my Santas are taking the year off, just because I need to keep it as simple as possible. 

Christmas itself doesn't make me sad; it's all the rest of it, the commercialization and focus seems misplaced. Perhaps that is why I'm giving Santa some time off and basically concentrating on family time, good food, just a few gifts, playing games, and treasuring the time together.

The rest of it is just noise.☘ 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday August 11, 2025 The Record Must Be Straightened

My family faces something we knew would happen one day, and dreaded; the beginning of losing siblings. This loss is of the second in our birth order, one of only three sisters amidst the horde of boys. The outpouring of caring and sympathy has been frankly overwhelming and very much appreciated.  There is one thing I feel compelled to address and clear the air. Now, this is strictly to ease my discomfort, and is in no way a condemnation of anyone. My sister and I were not close. This all began as children, born close together, not a new or recent development. We grew up as different individuals, in a big crowd. As adults, with our own families, we drifted farther apart in spite of living in the same town. Simply put, we just stayed in our own lanes.  At no time, no matter what disagreements or hurts happened, did I ever forget that she was, above all, still my sister. As my wise brother-in-law shared with me, some things just can't be fixed, so we just let it be. But now,...
Read more

April 1, 2025 Nobody's Fool

  April is here. Now may the warm spring days be more and the cold snowy ones a fond memory. There is no need for a drumroll for this topic today. I quit drinking. I have not counted the days, but it's been about a year and a half since. Instead of calling it a recovery, I feel it's better for me to refer to it as a significant life change. Unlike many, I did not have a dramatic event that forced this change. There was no major health problem, behavior faux pas, criminal slip, or intervention. I simply...quit. It was after the fact that I found how positively my life would be impacted. Alcohol had always been a part of my life, from the days Dad would give me a "snort" of his icy beer after work, to being of legal age at 18, always present at every celebration, to becoming a crutch during Covid. That is where it, in hindsight, got out of hand. I hid it pretty well, although the bottles accumulated at an alarming rate in the recycling. I ignored it, thinking I was okay...
Read more

April 19, 2025 I Forgive You, I Forgive Me

This is an extremely difficult and painful post, but a necessary part of my personal acceptance and healing. I've had a caring professional encourage me to do so, but I've put it off for too long. First of all, I am not targeting any one person. My use of "you" is a general term. I do take responsibility for letting them make me feel the way I did, and it's taken me so long to come to terms with being happy to just be me, warts and all. So, here goes... I forgive you for making me grow up too fast. Being the firstborn seemed to give so many license to make me more independent that I was truly ready to handle. I grew to be someone who never wanted to depend on anyone but myself. It caused me to push people away, instead of accepting help when it was offered, or affection I didn't feel I deserved. A shining example was a nun, who said when I was caught coming into the school lobby because I'd walked the 1/2 mile in the freezing cold, and wanted to get warm, ...
Read more