For me, Thanksgiving is the more awesome holiday than Christmas. In my youth, the sizable extended family would come to our house to celebrate Thanksgiving, which meant we had decorations, tons of holiday food for a two-week period starting before the day itself, and lots of people stuffed into every corner.
For Christmas, we went to my aunt’s house, had dinner, did a goofy gift exchange, and went home. As a person who has suffered from severe motion sickness all my life–I can’t sit in a stationary rocking chair or hammock without feeling ill–the traveling part made the holiday kinda suck. Sure, I got presents in the morning and only had to eat breakfast before I could start on the cookies and chocolate. I still had to endure two hours of misery for the privilege of enjoying my aunt’s famous Christmas lasagna.
Now, as an adult, my kids go to their dad’s for this holiday, so we shifted our main winter celebration to Thanksgiving, thus cementing the November engorgement as my favorite between the two. I still put up colored lights and a tree, and I still make pie, but to me, Christmas is more about the winter solstice than anything else. It’s cold, the days are finally getting longer again, and we have warm cider. Yay.
I also work on Christmas these days. It’s an excellent time to sit in my bean bag and revise. With cookies and hot cocoa. I’ll emerge in the middle of the day, a groundhog poking my nose out to determine if I can see my own holiday cheer, and troop to my aunt’s house for an early dinner. Then we’ll come home and I’ll return to my winter hibernation writing mode until required to do otherwise.
However you celebrate whichever of the numerous holidays that fall this time of year, I wish you and yours comfort, joy, good food, and good company.