Elizabeth Drakes's Site

Fantasy Romance

Holiday

Now, the Letdown

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It’s that time after the holiday season that I dislike the most. It’s still dark, cold, and snowy. But now, it’s just winter.

Christmas is over, New Year’s is done. The eggnog is gone. It’s time to be done celebrating and move on to the grind of January.

From this:
lights
Pretty lights!

 

To this:
trees
Only looks pretty until you have to drive in it.

 

Even the holiday lights don’t look the same. They’re still pretty and help brighten the darkness, but each day, there are fewer and fewer up as people accept that the season is over and take down theirs.

There’s no anticipation brewing.

No excitement as we wrap presents eager to see the joy on the receivers’ face when they get them. No expectation of what’s under the tree for us. Not even the anticipation of a few days off of work.

Just snow. Darkness. Cold. And long hours at the day job.

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Sums it up.

 Oh, and taking down the Christmas tree. Because that’s always a fun job I look forward to doing. *end sarcasm*

I wish I could schedule a holiday in late January or early February so we’d have something to look forward to, but it’s really hard for me to get time off before April 15th.

In a few weeks, I won’t notice. I’ll be head down, getting work done as we dig out of the snow and cold to get to work on a daily basis.

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Actual winter footage.

It’ll be the grind of obligations and doing what needs to be done.

And, it’ll suck.

The song about how the singer wishes every day would be Christmas would ruin Christmas, but I do wish we could stretch out the holidays a bit. Maybe exchange our New Year for the Chinese New Year so we have something to look forward to after Christmas. The next holiday on the horizon in Easter if you celebrate it, otherwise, we’re looking at Memorial Day. That’s just too long.

How about you? Do you feel post-Christmas blues? If so, how do you deal with them?

Craving Christmas Lights

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I normally love Christmas lights, but this year, I am absolutely craving them.

It’s been a hectic month with a lot of trials. Not as bad as last year, but I feel like getting sucker punched over the holidays is almost a tradition.

Still, I love the lights. The bright colors. The beautiful, or sometime garish, displays.

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Even the snow co-operated with just a dusting.

I’m not sure why I like them so much. Perhaps it’s the bit of nostalgia from my childhood. Driving around and looking at lights was one of the few things we did as a family that involved very little fighting.

Maybe it’s the time of the year. A little light goes a long way when the is sun winning at a game of hide-and-seek.

funny-go-work-dark-home-pics
This is very much my life for most of the winter.

I’d love to say it’s the holiday season itself, but as a parent, I have found the holidays a lot more stressful.

Whatever it is, seeing the lights on my way home from work makes me smile after a long day. I even spontaneously burst into Christmas carols a few times this year. Good thing I was alone to save any potential passenger the pain of my horribly off-key singing. Tone-deafness runs in my family.

Reminds me that we really should do more to decorate for the holidays.

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Pretty and shiny.

It was fun putting up the tree this year, and the kids loved it, but the lone angel in the front yard looks pretty sad. My husband doesn’t really care to decorate, but he humors me.

Or, I can avoid the stress and just enjoy other people’s decorations. Perhaps I’ll check the after Christmas sales and think about it next year.

But if you are decorating, know that at least one person out here appreciates your efforts. And thank you.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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It’s the day before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow, many of us in the United States will be sitting down to a meal with family and friends.

thanksgiving
My family is known for making enough for food for three times our number.

Or, we’ll be snarfing it down and getting right on to the very important business of Black Friday bleeding into the holiday of thanks. Because, you know, those amazing consumer deals can’t wait, and they’re so good, the stores need more than one day to run them all. *sarcasm*

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For anyone outside of the US, Thanksgiving is a day we in the US celebrate and give thanks, usually around a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Pie then follows.

So, yeah, we give thanks by stuffing ourselves with food. Sounds about right.

Black Friday, however, is the day after Thanksgiving. This is said to be the busiest shopping day of the year. It isn’t. The Saturday before Christmas is (hello all you procrastinators out there!), but it’s still a huge day, and retailers will make 4-5% of their total profit for the year on Black Friday.

To get the foot traffic and corresponding sales, retailers offer seemingly ridiculous deals on stuff. Like 60 inch HD televisions for $199. Here’s the catch, though. There’s probably less than three of these televisions in each store. In the US, retailers can get away with that by noting that “quantities are limited”.  So, yeah.

Of course, many times those deeply discounted televisions or other items are specifically made for Black Friday so they may not be much of a deal if you factor in quality. There are a ton of online sources that tell you how to spot a real deal from a fake one. If you’re going to go through the Black Friday effort, I recommend you take a look.

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If the never-ending Christmas creep, many retailers are now offering Black Friday deals all through November.

I’m not terribly tempted. I’m almost done shopping already, and I tried hard to support artists through Etsy again this year. I also know the good toys go early, and I don’t want to be chasing around on eBay to find the handful of things my girls want. My oldest daughter’s Christmas list was two items. Yeah, not messing with that!

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving full of family friends and food, and a productive Black Friday if you celebrate it.

happythanks