Holiday Hoopla Over

Congratulations everyone, we made it through another busy holiday season.

Like most of you I'm sure, I made it to another new year with only minor injuries from my assault on the local mall and walking through the family gathering minefield.

I guess I make it sound worse than it really was but I make no secret about my disdain for the season or at least certain aspects of it.

I truly enjoy spending time with family over the joyous season and especially this holiday with my brother Scott and his wife Erin making the trip north from Florida to spend time with us.

The one main aspect of the Christmas season that truly drives me batty is shopping. It's not like I have a lot of people to buy gifts for but I can do numerous laps around the mall and still leave without buying anything for anyone but me. It's easy to shop for myself because I know what I want and I can just run in to the store, purchase the item and then leave.

When I'm shopping for family, the only thing that snaps me out of my trance as I blindly wander with the rest of the herd of shoppers is when I pick up the scent of the pizza in the food court. Time to take a break and regroup with a slice and sit and watch the other lost souls going by.

In the end I did manage to find a couple of gifts for my parents that I think they were happy with. Scott and Erin were the toughest challenge as they have everything they need and anything I thought of had to fit in their suitcases to fly back home. In the end I'll admit I just gave up and went shopping at the bank. Cash isn't the most personal of gift but I know my eyes always light up when someone hands me money. Not to mention I think I got the right size.

The one other hurdle to jump this year was spending time with family members I haven't seen in quite some time. I guess the real problem is that I like sitting at home and just spending quiet times playing cards with my immediate family. The thought of having to dress up (take off my track pants), hop in the car and go visiting isn't normally something that appeals to me and I wasn't too eager to do it this time either.

But I actually didn't mind it in the end. It was nice to talk with some of my cousins I haven't seen in quite some time and a Christmas meal with about 20 people at my cousin Stephen's was very nice. It may be a little selfish, but I was kind of glad that my mom was able to take Christmas off and just enjoy it. She helped out in the kitchen but she certainly didn't have to run the show like she would have at home and I think she appreciated that as well.

In the end the holiday hoopla wasn't too bad this year. Perhaps as I get older I'm learning to appreciate the time I get to spend with my family and extended family more because there will come a day when all we'll have are memories.