the holidays are what you make of it

this year it's all about the newspaper.

when i was little and my parents were still married, we always had an enormous tree that was placed next to our gorgeous brick fireplace in gulfstream where i grew up. both my parents are jewish by default, but we always managed to celebrate christmas AND hannukuh. i never really learned much about the jewish holidays... but christmas was the typical gift giving time, and hanukkuh happened every so often. my parents divorced when i was 8, and after(from what i can remember) that we had christmas with my dad, and hanukkuh with my mom. i remember one time we went away to colorado for a snowboarding trip with my dad and my mom packed us 8 gifts that we got to open while we were away. who wouldn't like that? there was even a year that i was going with my brother eruch to the kabbalah center with my mom every friday. that didn't last long, but that's fine. my years growing up living at home were full of different traditions, and more non-traditions than ever. i don't think that it was ever so much about religion, just more about family and gift giving.

as soon as we got older, the gifts mostly stopped and from 15 on my holidays were spent mostly with my significant others(at the time) family. i think i've always been fine with that considering i have such a big immediate family that it would just be stressful to have to buy everyone a gift. don't get me wrong, every other year or so we'd all send a little gift here or there, but it wasn't really expected. my mom or dad would sometimes give us money, or my mom would fly me home for the holidays when i wasn't living in florida.

i think as far my outlook on "christmas" goes...it  is so much like my mom's outlook nowadays. i really believe that this time of year can be so stressful it's ridiculous, especially if you don't have any savings and aren't making a lot of money. matt and i moved back to florida from prague 6 months ago with barely anything and as soon as we got our apartment here we had to start all over again. "season" has still yet to show up here in sunny south florida.... but this time of year is just so friggen special i can't help but want to feel like it's cold outside. so that means spending money on a tree, decorations.... etc. i'm not sure you understand.... i love nothing more than to come home, plug in my tree lights, light my winter pine candle, and.... eat? cook. whatever. cuddle.

whatever... back to my outlook. i was on the phone with my mom the other day and she was saying how she stopped treating christmas like most people do when we "grew up" she thinks buying all these gifts should be strictly for young children and your significant other. and i completely agree. i can't fathom at this point to even try buying a gift for all my siblings, my parents, my grandparents, and my close friends. it's just TOO much. these people know how much i love them. i think it also has A LOT to do with the fact that we're never together during this time of year. we're all scattered around the country. and maybe that's not fair to say, but for me it's okay and i think it can go without saying. i love nothing more than to buy for my boyfriend.... and this year i will be spending christmas with matt's family. we're doing a secret santa, and a white elephant. fun, right? on a budget, everyone gets something personal and something funny. works for me.

i'm looking forward to spending time with his family and my family in JUST 9 days... and this year i will be making something for the loves in my life.... which is always a great idea on a budget.

ALSO, i am super super excited about all our lovely friends who are coming to visit soon! (wish cheryl and andrew were coming, though!) <3