Gratitude and Holidays by Liz Flaherty

Yesterday started my online holiday celebration. While Window Holidays on Window Over the Sink doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving, I've done 30 Days of Gratitude on Facebook for a lot of years, and that starts on November 1. 

It all makes me think of how things change. I have always loved the holidays, and I admit to loving them best when our kids were young and the presents were big and well planned and hopefully surprises. Those were the years of family celebrations on the day, the day before, the Sunday before, and the Sunday after. Sometimes for my family, it was New Year's Day. It was fun and worth the weeks of exhaustion that went with it. I had no trouble combining the religious and the commercial when it came to Christmas, because I loved them both. It was, in the end, all about the giving.

And, if I'm honest about it, the receiving. I loved getting presents, because gifts often took care of things I wanted but wouldn't buy, things I needed but didn't feel we could afford, and gift cards that allowed me to buy things--as comes naturally to me--on sale. 

I miss it. I miss the excitement of the giving and the getting and the chaos of family gatherings. 

So the holidays are different now. We decorate less. I bake less. I buy less. We go to fewer family gatherings and host fewer yet. There aren't as many gifts because there aren't as many needs or wants. I still send Christmas cards because I love doing it, but...yeah, different. 

Which brings me to what I was talking about in the first paragraph. The online celebrations are different, as is the fact that we now buy Christmas gifts for children we don't know--Santa has the most fun when he's anonymous!--and donate to more places. 

But the celebrations are still engaging and real--at least, they are for me and for readers of the Window. The 30 Days of Gratitude works as a reminder. That at the end of every celebratory day, it's still about the giving. 

I hope you enjoy the holidays and visit the Wranglers both here and at their places of work and play online. 

If you're looking for holiday reads, don't miss Jana's Christmas at Solace Lake, Nan's Christmas in River's Edge, Kristi's Christmas In A Small Town and this year's visit to Christmas Town, Lights, Camera, Christmas Town!