Holidays

I'm sure it comes as no surprise when I admit that… I haven't really been big on holidays. Nothing good has come from them, for me, in a long time. Growing up with divorced parents, my holidays were always spent splitting my time equally among all parties, never really feeling quite settled in one place or another. Since then, they've been mediocre at best and if they were uneventful, they were considered a success. Then a couple years ago, my Dad died on Easter. The Christmas that followed was my worst to date and it's pretty much after this sequence of events that I wrote off all holidays and their ensuing celebrations, for good.

BAH! …humbug.

I had just contented myself to my supreme cynicism regarding the holidays when… Miss Maci Mae Mo was born. With her comes the chance to reinvent the holidays and once again, experience them through the innocent eyes of a child. Color me sappy but after experiencing the following…

Maci's "Baby's First Christmas 2011" ornament hanging adjacent to mine (circa 1982)…

an empty hook awaiting Maci's stocking from Grandma Miller…

Maci's successful introduction to the jolly big guy…

a Polar Express reading from father to daughter…

…something Grinch-esque has happened to me.

I've realized we're not only experiencing holidays anymore but Shawn and I are creating traditions. We're composing annual events that Maci will grow to love. Therefore I'm bound and determined to adjust my holiday attitude and soak up all the firsts this season brings for me and my family of five. The squirt may still be a little too young to really understand what's going on, but if nothing more, for now, she can just enjoy the simplicity of a few extra twinkly lights.