Holidays Are Comin'

The holiday season is finally here. Well, the retail chains announce that circa September, but you really know the slew of holidays is here, oh, about now. After grazing on goodies from Oct. 31st all month (whatever reason you celebrate that day), Thanksgiving is here and you're likely to be feasting again (only this time it's probably in a more nutritious way). Then Christmas comes, and if you're like me, you consume a combo of candy AND Thanksgiving-type foods. New Year's, then, brings more partying, which inevitably means, more calories. In my case, the birthday comes next (and for some reason, despite my protests, someone in the family always wants to take me out to EAT), and then Valentine's Day (which=more candy!), and alas, we finally get a break from all the celebratory eating just in time to get in shape for swimsuit weather. *sigh*

I love the holidays. I love to decorate and shop and cook and get crafty. When I was teaching, it was always so exciting to have my students help decorate the classroom. In fact, I recall spending huge portions of my pay checks to purchase new decorations and supplies because it was so neat to see the kids get creative with what I provided them. My first year, when I was teaching junior high Social Studies/History, I worked at a fairly large middle school. There was a door-decorating contest, and we got soooo into it! After our lesson each day, I'd allot time for them to do their own thing to contribute to the door. I'd crank up the Christmas music, whip out the art supplies, and watch the creative juices flow. I wish I would have gotten pictures of it, but I do remember a black background with a chalked snowman scene. We put up red and green lights around the door and a "count-down" chalkboard. It was so neat...and we ended up getting second place!

Cooking is something that just came within the last couple of years. The sad thing is, I'm a horrible cook and I can't successfully make anything unless it involves lots of sugar. I won a Hershey's chocolate cook book last summer at a baby shower and I think I've mastered just about every recipe in there, from Peanut Butter Chips Pie to Triple Raspberry Chocolate Cake. Now if only I could get motivated to do some healthier dishes! Well, actually I did just learn to make a type of bread this week. I had a project for my American Ethnic Lit. class and I made some "Pan de los Muertos," which is spanish for, "Bread of the dead." (I did the project on the Mexican holiday, "Day of the Dead.")

The day after Thanksgiving should be a national holiday. I am not one of those psychotic "will-kill-for-good-deal" type of shoppers, but I think the atmosphere in general is exciting. It's the one day of the year where I have an excuse to shop and it usually turns into a major social deal. We tend to run into so many people we know that we do more gabbing than buying. The first year I went at 5am, I drug Steve out with me. His eyes were barely open and he was wearing his snowman PJ's and house slippers. He had no idea what he was in for. A couple of times he got ran over by little old ladies, but he survived. It initially pissed him off, but he couldn't wait to go back the next year. Now it's a tradition for us to go out and contribute to the chaos.

So much to look forward to! Woo-hoo!