Holiday Bug

There's something about the weather being cool and an imminent holiday. The kids just wanted to be outside. The whole neighborhood, or so it seemed, gathered in the backyards until well after dark. Daelyn had a friend over and some others friends of my sons', who live in the next block down, came over, too. It was a glorious evening.

We discovered during dinner, which was late because of that glorious evening (which ended with Don, who's off this week, playing baseball with all our children), that Dane had not done all his homework. Apparently, he had a lot because he was very late for school yesterday due to an appointment with the Allergist at 9 a.m. He also has two major tests today for which he needed to study. Unbeknownst to me, he had given into temptation and gone out to play before all the schoolwork was done. We sent him away from the table to get his homework completed and he ended up in the kitchen, half an hour after bedtime, working with Don to get it done.

All the same, you can taste the holidays. This morning I was up early and more rested than I have been lately. I made a nice hot breakfast, then sat with the children to drink a cup of coffee. While at the grocery store yesterday buying our supplies for Thanksgiving, I found a new seasonal coffee creamer - Gingerbread. I bought a bottle and tried it out this morning. I let both Deanna and Dane have a taste. It's delicious and it was quite impossible to keep the image of golden roasted turkeys and hot pumpkin pie, chestnuts burning the ends of my fingers and the smell of bonfires out of my mind. I could almost feel the holidays, if that's possible.

Perhaps I'm so tuned in this year because we were gone last year. Or maybe England and the cool weather in the land of Dickens just sensitized me more. It could even be the shopping spree last Saturday that focused my thoughts and emotions. Perhaps the pecans are candidates for the excitement I'm beginning to feel building in my chest - that sense of anticipation of wonderment just around the corner.

Whatever is causing it, I can now report that the Holiday Bug has bit me and the rest of my family. We're eager while lingering over every moment along the way.

Life should always feel like this. I'm glad the Holidays remind me.