Getting through the holidays

When I was a kid, my mom used to marvel at “how much Billy loves Christmas!”

I would never call my mother a liar. Seriously, I wouldn’t. And I do enjoy Christmas, Christmas Eve, which was always the bigger deal in my family, and the celebrations with family.

But I have noticed over the last ten years or so that I fall into a bit of a funk every year, just after Thanksgiving and it lasts until after my birthday, which is a week after Christmas. I’m trying to pay attention more this year to how I feel and on which days and when it stops. I’ve often wondered how much of it is holidays, how much is Winter, with its cold and short days, and how much might be that I don’t have my parents around any more.

As I’ve written before, I’m an emotional sort, so the holidays has also always brought a certain amount of reflection and nostalgia, etc. Perhaps I just feel these things more acutely than I did when I was younger. Maybe because I have adult children of my own now, the feelings are exaggerated.

In any case, I want to get through the holidays. I don’t want to rush them, because I do miss the festivities when they are over, but part of me looks forward to feeling more normal again.