Excited for the Holidays!

My mom and I around the holidays in 2009

I'm a Christmas Baby.  I love the holidays.  I am very cheesy about it too.  I usually can't wait for day after Thanksgiving to blast my Mariah Carey "Merry Christmas" album from waaayyy back when.  I've had this CD for maybe 15 years and usually I don 't make it to Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to belt out "O Holy Night" and "All I Want for Christmas is You" right along with Mariah.  It sounds atrocious but who cares?  My sister used to make fun of me for my obsession with this CD.
It's not just the holiday music though.  It's the lights, the cool (or cold depending on where you live) weather that makes you want to light a candle and snuggle up close to somebody, the festive mood people are usually in.  I love it all.  I love breaking out my scarves and boots and braving the cold going out somewhere... anywhere. 
And there is the  nostalgia of Christmas in Jamaica as a child.  There was no Santa Claus and no presents under the tree (I actually never quite felt a connection to the whole Santa thing).  It was always about Baby Jesus and I remember putting on Christmas productions at school and in church, singing "Away in a Manger" to a decked out Christmas audience.  We would go to the fair and ride the merry-go-round.  And then we had Grand Market Night, a Jamaican tradition.  Christmas Eve night, little kiddies with their parents would go out to town and stay out until almost daylight with shopping and festivities.  We'd go home with balloons, brand new dolls, all kinds of great things.  We'd go to sleep and wake up the next day to play with our toys.  Ah nostalgia!  And then there's the the food!  Sorrell and rum cake (I'm Jamaican, so no egg nog and fruit cake for me).
 I have to admit I went through a little phase somewhere along the way where I didn't like the holidays as much.  It was probably one or two years in college when I was a bit cynical.  I was transitioning into adulthood and there didn't seem to be much fun in the holidays for adults.  Also, the stress of coming up with money I didn't have to buy presents for my family members, presents I felt weren't appreciated anyway, was starting to get to me.  But I've come full circle and  came back to the realization that it's not about the presents.  It has never been at least not for me.  I have a small family and we never really had a lot of money so I'd get 2 or 3 presents at most and usually nothing too impressive.  Once I got over my resentments about the crowds and buying gifts and not getting anything I like, I came back to being elated about the holidays.
I actually can't wait to host a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner of my own, in my own home and maybe have my own additions to the family.  This year we already have a new addition.  My nephew will be celebrating his very first Christmas!  I'm gonna get a tree, I'm gonna torture everyone with my Christmas music, I'm gonna drag somebody with me to the Festival and Lights and it's gonna be awesome!  Yay!