Team Cox: The Holiday Spirit

I'm going to admit something totally un-American: I hate Christmas. Shocking, right? Might as well just give up and let the terrorists win - but I do. Sometimes I think I'd hate it less if the Christmas season lasted a reasonable two weeks, but the mid-October to New Year's Christmasapalooza? Hate. it. This year on Halloween itself I walked into a CVS to purchase some candy corn and couldn't find it, because there was a giant cardboard box of Christmas candy draped with pine garland around it in the middle of the store. I never get into the holiday spirit, I generally annoy everyone by insisting on giving obnoxious gifts that imply my lack of christmas spirit (A copy of an inconvenient truth for the person that doesn't believe in global wamring; a donation to a charity for the most materialistic people on my list) which only serves to royally piss people off. The better plan would be to just grin and hang some tinsel, but I can't help myself. This time of year brings out my misanthropy.

Honestly in the giant pro/con list that is having a kid, the holidays were a definite CON for me. I know some people with an 8 month old would have been at a tree farm November 5th just dying to get their baby's first Christmas tree. Lots of people. But I have been dreading having to "do" christmas - fake enthusiasm for it, do the Santa thing, give my kid non-jerky gifts (nothing spells therapy like your mom giving you a flock of geese for christmas 12 years in a row). It's one thing for me to put on my people-pleasing face on Christmas day and visit the relatives; it's entirely another to have the responsibility of creating another person's Christmas memories. Kids love Christmas. Time to suck it up.

The one exception to my negativity is Christmas parties. I do like Christmas parties, mostly because I really like parties and the mere fact that a party takes place in december doesn't make it bad. Owen went to his first Christmas party last night (sadly, we were invited to two christmas parties last night, both of which I really would have liked to go to, but we had to go to the family one) and my anti-Chrismasness began to thaw a little. Every year my mom's side of the family (which is enormous) has a christmas party. They rent a VFW hall, bring lots of food, hire a magician for the kids and one of my mom's cousins dresses up as Santa. It's actually pretty....fun.

don't get any ideas. I'm still the grinchiest grinch that ever grinched the grinch...but you know what? I was excited when Santa showed up for Owen to sit on his lap. And all the kids running around yelling for santa seemed more cheerful than annoying. Even the Christmas music didn't get on my nerves the way it usually does. I left thinking that maybe this Christmas with a kid thing isn't going to be as bad as I think.

This is Owen NEAR Santa. Abandoning him on Santa's lap wasn't going to work so well (stranger anxiety is starting to kick in) but we got near to Santa so he could give him a present.