The Holidays

Ahhhhh..... The holidays are over. Really over. This means the holiday cards are off the wall, the decorations are put away, all remnants of holiday treats have been devoured, and the tree has been put out to pasture. For someone, like myself, who loves the holidays as much as I do, it always amazes me how much I love them to be over by January 2nd.

We had a wonderful time, however, without our usual out-of-town parent visits; most years, Husband's mom comes until the 24th and my parents show up the 26th or later and stay through New Year's Day. Yes, this year was different. For the first time we celebrated Winter Soltice, the longest night of the year. To this Northern area, it really means something wonderful to us. For the whole month of December, we are given less and less daylight. The darkness seems darker than usual, probably because of all the dark rainclouds that cover the sky, so you just don't see a sparkle of stars or beam from the moon to light up the night and your spirits. Then, by the 20th of December, the sunrise is at 8:00 and sunset is at 4:00pm. Only eight hours to get your Vitamin D. So, to celebrate this last night of the days getting shorter, we burn candles to light the night and play music and games and enjoy every last minute of the long darkness with a sense of hope. We invited our friends over to play and eat and we told the kids that they could stay up as late as they wanted. The kids thought this was an amazing gift and had their plans, until 1:30am, when we authoritatively told them they had to go to bed. We never thought they would make it past 12. Boy, those little guys were so wired and excited. Next year, the rule will be changed to "stay up as late as Mom and Dad do!

Then came Christmas a few days later, which was quiet and lovely. The kids were excited about their new things and we just relaxed. We did go out in the evening to friend's homes to pass out of the hundreds of snowball cookies we baked up, but spent the night watching movies and just enjoying the nothingness to do.

New Year's again we had a party to celebrate New York's New Year. This is a trick I learned from my wise sister who does this every year. Celebrating midnight in New York is only 9 o'clock our time. The kids still get to stay up a bit late, and count down and let off the poppers and make the noise, but still get to bed at a decent hour. We bought 2 giant party packs of poppers for the 9 of us, and we were swimming in confetti by the end. Besides the completely unreal amount of unrecyclable material, how can you not just love watching the kids setting off gunpowdered powered confetti on New Year's?

To end the holidays in style, on Jan 2nd Husband left his job of almost 10 years. He was given a severence package of 1 week's pay and they told us to smile. Of course we did smile. We smiled that he left when he did. This company, like most corporations, has tried to suck out every last drop of his soul. For years, they asked for the moon from him, and he delivered them Mars. They said they were impressed and he was told of huge promotions, but only got his measley 3% raise every year. They gave him new titles, to boost his ego, but not the amounts in our bankbook. And after reorganizing away his half of the department he worked in, he was given a few weeks over the holidays to find a new management position. Then they told him his last day would be the day before a 5 year vesting stock would vest. When he asked for that stock, they hesitantly said yes and throw him a week's pay of severance. Unbelievable!

I told him and I am telling you, it's a blessing in disguise. We walked away easily, with no worries that we were doing the wrong thing, and now we are walking towards a new life where the real things in life matter. Our family. In his new job, we will always praise him and love him for everything he does. And though we don't ask for the moon, he still delivers it to us, in his loving hands.