Happy Holidays

Driving into work this morning, the etiquette of gift giving for the holidays was the pressing topic of the morning. I love love LOVE the holidays. The food, laughter, the huge snowflakes, the non-stop holiday music on the radio and glistening holiday lights that pollute the night....The holiday season always feels magical to me.

Am I religious? Not in the least. I like to consider myself a "recovering Catholic." I haven't been to church in as long as I can remember...In fact, the last time I attended "mass" as a single-unwed-mother I felt like a walking sinner, with guilt seeping out of me to the point where I feel too horrible to justify attending church....I was waiting for the white haired congregation to force me into a corner and tattoo the Scarlett letter on my forehead (yeah, that's a bit of an exaggeration...point being, I don't like going to church).

Christmas is, in fact, a religious holiday (DUH....it has the word Christ in it...no lie)....but to me, it's not about the Christ-factor...it's about getting together and sharing moments with close friends and family, usually over a delicious meal, or sitting around a living room....we make time for each other around the holidays. It's an occassion that's not a wedding or a funeral where we sit down, take deep breaths, and (of course) overeat to the point of feeling the onset of a food-coma to be inevitable.

Thinking Happy Thoughts

I really don't want this to be a sob story...so I've decided to make a list of things I am able to do because I am single, that I take for granted.

• I don't have to shave my legs for months if I don't want to. This not only saves money, but a heckuva lot of time
• I always have the covers at night
• I don't have to argue or compromise with someone about what I'm eating/making for dinner. I can even go OUT to eat if I want to...it's quite liberating
• I can park where ever I want when I am running errands
• At night, I can call on my battery operated friends without judgment
  
• At night, I can decide NOT to call on my battery operated friends without judgment
• Aside from BB's clothes (baby boy, even though he's not so baby anymore), all of the laundry I do is MINE, so I only have myself to be irritated with when the clothes pile high and the stains run deep
• I can watch as much horrible reality television as I want
• I'm privy to the last scoop of ice cream
• I can eat as much garlic as I want

I think ten things is a pretty darn good start.