Oh, December what a month! For some reason this year it just seems like I blinked and here it was. I am not sure if it is because Thanksgiving came so late, but I feel a bit caught off guard. Winter arrived right on cue Dec. 1st - it has snowed just about every other day here and so far we are up to 22" as of the 10th!!!! Very pretty, very cold. I always feel so bad for my fall coats and sweaters, they never seem to get enough play time around here. Either Indian summer or full blown winter.
December like many is such a hectic time for me. As a child growing up it was actually a very laid-back time of year. I grew up on Long Island where I was fortunate enough to enjoy all the beauty of holiday's in NYC - 5th Avenue, all the deptpartment store decorations. We never had the crazy maddash of shopping - we celebrate Hanukah. As a kid it was great, 8 days of simple fun gift giving. I always thought that I got off easy, and that I did not feel the pressure of lots of shopping.
That all changed when I met my husband. He is not Jewish, and all of sudden I entered the world of major gift giving. December is a fun month for us and with our daughters it does get somewhat crazy. We celebrate both Christmas and Hanukah. Now that kids are part of our lives my husband (one of four siblings) we have switched to just picking a name out of a hat for the adults and mostly focus on the kids. That makes things easier. Not only are we blessed here with lots of festive holidays to celebrate, December is also the month of birthdays in our family. My youngest just turned 3 on the 2nd, my hubby is the 11th, followed by a brother and sister in-law on the 18th, and my father in-law on the 27th - yikes but a good yikes. Lots of fun and well lots of yummy, yummy cakes!
I have not done a stitch of shopping yet beyond buying my daughters birthday presants. Last week we experienced another December gift...sickness! It came in loud and clear along with the snow on the 1st. My husband and I have been fighting bronchittis ( I am finally winning), my 5 year old had a fever of 105.1 last week, high enough to make me think I was going to have a heart attack along with everything else. It was a long week with many trips to the doctors office. My 3 year old who had her birthday in the middle of all this was such a trooper and I realized how many doctor appointments we had been to in one day, when I looked at her sweater and noticed that it was covered in stickers. But, this week seems to be going much better and my daughter is back in school ( minus a snow day of course ).
We end this month, by yes all getting in the van, two dogs included and we drive to NY to celebrate the holidays with my husband's family. We loving going up there, it is so beautiful and special for us. When we all get to be together and laugh and enjoy each others company it makes all of the craziness of December worth while.
