The Grinch

That's me.

Christmas is not my favorite holiday. When I was a kid, I liked Christmas just fine. Wasn't ever one of those wake-up-at-4-am-because-I-was-so-excited-and-had-to-open-presents-immediately kind of kids, but it was fun. I got to see all of my extended family in one day. And I mean all. Neither of my parents were from large families, and everyone lived in the same town, so we always got together. Christmas lunch with one side, Christmas dinner with the other. And I never knew any different.

Then my parents got divorced. And everything changed. Kind of sucks having to be the grown-up and make decisions on who you were going to see when. That's about the time that I started disliking Christmas. So it's not really Christmas, actually, that I dislike. It's more the forced spending of time and buying of gifts for people who you no longer really know. But it just made me rebel against the holiday in general. Add to the that the fact that I do NOT like to be told what to do, nor do I appreciate things being expected of me just because of the day of the year, and Christmas really is the perfect storm for my rebellion :)

And then I got married. Awesomeness. (note: the sarcasm is not actually directed at the fact that I am married right now...I love my husband dearly, especially since he tends to mostly agree with me on all things Christmas) Add to the perfect storm another side of the family who doesn't live here. Not only that, but they LOVE Christmas. I mean, L O V E Christmas. Well, except for my father-in-law...bless him :) Now don't get me wrong, I love them dearly. But remember those things that I don't appreciate being expected of me just because of the day of the year? You would have thought I had told them I was a serial killer the first year they realized that putting up a Christmas tree was not on my to-do list. Ever. They (and allegedly, the heavens) rejoiced the year that some friends came over and put up a Christmas tree for us :)

And presents. Don't even get me started on presents. Here's the thing. I really actually thoroughly enjoy buying and/or making presents for people I love. It's even more enjoyable when I actually have fantastic ideas on things to get them that they will really like. But don't make me buy things for my second cousins who I see twice a year. Or my grandparents who I see once a year. It just makes me angry to have to buy things because it's expected when I know that it's going to sit on a shelf somewhere, unopened and unused. It's a waste of my time and money, and their space. Chances are good that if I don't have any idea what to get you, you don't have any idea what to get me, so it seems logical that there should be no presents exchanged by said parties. Then no time, money, or space is wasted. That hasn't gone over well yet. Maybe someday... :)

Until then, I'll be busy trying to think of how to teach my sweet Cade and the little gummy bear about what Christmas really means.