It is that time of year again when Halloween passed and Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays line up waiting for attention, people, candy canes and other food. Somewhere between costumes, menus and gift buying, there doesn’t seem to be much time left.
Even the pets are unforgiving about time and refuse to cooperate. The cats won’t take a break from the litter box and the dog still wants to play. The only part in all this they appreciate is food dropping from the table (not the green beans or salad, just the turkey or ham).
In any case, it is stressful for all concerned except perhaps guests who want to be treated like gods and not lift a finger to help.
There are all kinds of people with various planning habits for these events.
The OCD perfect homemaker/ cruise director type comes to mind. This person has been on Pinterest since August planning crafts and a menu. They probably have been running an inventory on their wreath and Christmas tree decorations for months – which are no doubt stored in wreath storage containers and padded boxes with printed labels. People may not enjoy this OCD-ness, but it gets the food on the table and the tree decorated.
The grateful holiday dodgers truly love the OCDers. While other people are running around trying to get organized and doing the work, they are sleeping the sleep of the just and much too busy doing other things they actually enjoy.
Then there are the early Grinches who are collecting memes of Grumpy Cat in a Santa hat and writing about the injustices of Christmas lights going up before Halloween. And for the ones who do put those decorations up, they will peak out too early – the lights become boring, and the jokes aren’t funny anymore.
Every holiday gathering brings some family member in who just can’t resist talking about politics or religion. That requires having a peacemaker in the group who is on pins and needles just waiting for the hammer to drop so the list of non-controversial remarks on the list can quickly be utilized to neutralize the situation.
Let’s no forget the person who dresses to perfection in a silk blouse to avoid helping in the kitchen. This person usually has a cell phone that acts as a second line of defense in case someone tells them they need to help. It is a good idea for these people to bring two bottles of wine as a gift.
Some holiday advice: Relax. It’s okay to not be Martha Stewart and expend so much energy trying to get the perfect menu and food on the table, not to mention responding to every minor disaster in the kitchen And if there is a lull in the conservation… let that relative steer the conversation to the 2024 presidential election. It will clear a lot of guests out and make the job easier.
But in the end, just remember that even if the neighbor’s Christmas lights are up before Thanksgiving, and no one likes the pumpkin spice turkey gravy on the menu, and the door-slamming conversation about politics isn’t headed off – there are still reasons to be thankful for those people.
Enjoy the roller coaster ride as we enter the “Holiday Twilight Zone.”