December Traditions

 Here it is, December again. Just this morning I was telling Don that we have reached the age of Warp Speed. When you’re young, time moves like molasses. It takes forEVER for your birthday to come, or the holidays. But as you get older, time picks up speed with every year, until as you near the end, days/months/years pass so quickly it all becomes a blur.

In my family, we’ve always seen the year out with a bang. My mother’s birthday was Dec. 6, my sister Dec. 7, Then Christmas. December 16 was always the traditional day for decorating the Christmas tree when I was a kid. It was my parents’ wedding anniversary, and it didn’t seem odd to us youngsters that the folks spent their anniversary buying and decorating their Christmas tree instead of foisting us off on some relative and going out on the town. December 16 may seem late to be putting up your tree these days, but back in the day we bought big old live trees, and you didn’t want them turning into dried up firetraps before the season was over.

Don resisted buying an artificial tree for the first untold number of years of our marriage, but when he got sick in 2008 and couldn’t go tree shopping, I put up a little fake tree that I had used in my Scottish shop. (Yes, I used to import tchotchkes from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales and sell them in a shop.) A couple of years later I bought a pretty little fake tree that we have used ever since. It doesn’t smell the same, but I don’t have to sweep up needles every day, either.

My plan was to finish with my WIP by the end of the year. Fortunately I didn't specify which year. Still, I like the way the book is turning out, so I guess that's something.

And then my birthday is at the end of the month. I’d tell you which one, but sometimes I can’t believe it myself. It’s all such a blur…

In two weeks, I'll post a great Christmas cookie recipe my sister-in-law used to make - wildly easy, no bake, and delicious. 

Have a happy December, and enjoy you're latest great read!