Holidays

The Christmas holiday season is very stressful for some people whereas it should be a time of happiness and joy. We start out with such high expectations which are virtually impossible to meet. As I’ve grown older and my kids have kids of their own and are living in different cities, I don’t have the enthusiasm I used to have. We think of loved ones and friends who are no longer with us and how we miss them. We let everything get us down and finally just wait until the holidays are over so we can get back to our regular routines. I seem to be describing myself . . . but what the hell is my regular routine? Is it flossing three times a day and watching Craig Ferguson at night? That sounds about right.

The other morning I was brushing my teeth and I almost started to cry! What was that about? I had the television on and possibly there was Christmas music playing. I can’t listen to any Christmas music as it makes me cry. I was kind of down anyway as my car had been at the car hospital for a couple of days, and the news wasn’t good. I sort of slopped around the house and then talked to a friend who said she was feeling melancholy as she always does at this time of year. She was also sick and sounded terrible, so that would make anyone melancholy. She feels the same as I do about this time of year which made me feel better.

Teri is bringing our family to a hotel here in the city for a couple of nights over Christmas! We will all be staying there together which will be wonderful. I was so surprised when she told me. The family hasn’t been together since two years ago at Christmas. This will be a treat, thanks to Teri.

So as my day wound down, I looked for something on television that might make me laugh, but “Seinfeld” wasn’t on then. But I remembered I had DVRd Craig Ferguson Monday night so I turned him on, knowing he would make me laugh. But much to my surprise, it was his first day back from Scotland where he had attended his mother’s memorial service, so I didn’t expect too much funny from Craig. He did a monologue and almost broke up at one time. Then he talked a lot about his mother and showed clips of when she visited his show a couple of years ago. The entire show was so good and very touching. He even made me laugh when he was talking about his little boy and said it was the first time he had ever looked someone in the eye when that someone – his little boy - took a crap! So I felt better after Craig. The next night he had on an actress who told a long joke about poop that was supposed to be true. It seemed familiar to me, but it was still absolutely hilarious! Craig loved it as he loves to talk about poop. I’m the same way. Not everyone is like that, so you treasure the ones that are.

The picture at the top is of me at one of my birthday parties. I have always liked that picture as I look so happy, and it makes me happy just to look at it. My birthday is in June, so that’s why I looked so happy. I guess I needed that right now.