The Holidays
Here we are at the end of 2016. The New Year’s holiday is always bittersweet for me. I love the idea of starting fresh in a new year when anything is possible and not knowing what the future holds. On the other hand, the New Year’s holiday marks the end of the holiday slow down at work, time off to rest, and excitement in the air. I won’t have a day off until the end of May. It’s going to be gray and cold for several months without red Starbucks cups to brighten the days.
This year was my first holiday as a married woman. I served pizza on Christmas day and my husband and I didn’t really get each other gifts. I put the tree up a few days before Christmas and resorted to giving my niece and nephew cash instead of a thoughtful present. It was far from magical. That’s okay, I didn’t need Christmas to be magical. I just needed it to be calm and restful and for the most part, it was. My parents made a somewhat spontaneous trip up north from Florida. We ate pizza, drank wine, and watched the Steelers solidify their place in the playoffs on Christmas. The next day my brother and his family arrived for a short visit. I saw my aunt and uncle, my 94 year old grandfather, my cousins and their new babies. It was nice and lasted just long enough to be pleasant but not exhausting.
In addition to our first married Christmas, this year was our first Christmas together in Pittsburgh and our first Christmas in our new home. If I hadn’t been so tired from moving and the wedding I would have decorated a lot more than I did. I also would have liked to be more moved in so our guests could see our house in a more finished state. Instead I had a lot of pictures and mirrors leaning against the wall, rather than hanging on it and a lot of cardboard boxes piled in the dining room. We also would have gone to light up night or the village in Market Square or maybe even gone to see the lights at Phipp’s Conservatory. Have I mentioned we are tired? Oh well, there is always next year and fortunately it starts tomorrow.
[…] hype. January is not the beginning of my new year. January is the ending of my old year. The holidays are always a blurred combination of rest and exhaustion for me. I don’t come down from the […]