It's that time of year again.
Meh.
I just can't get excited for the holidays anymore, if I ever really could after my dad passed in '86. We were never ones for big family get-togethers, and nowadays, even less so. In this town, it's just my mom and I. No one else within 250 miles. Besides my sister in DC, the next closest relative under 65 is in... Florida. 900 miles away.
With two replaced knees, and one replaced shoulder, mom doesn't travel well. I can't get time off, and no one else has time or money to come here. Not to mention the sheer panic it would induce at trying to get the house prepared when there's barely time and energy for mere day-to-day existence.
And then there's my work. Even if family did come, third shift means I get out of bed to welcome them, then go right back to sleep. I see them again as they're going to bed and I'm having breakfast. A normal Thanksgiving dinner would be at something like 2-4am by my schedule. So while everyone else is feasting, my "dinner" would be leftovers, in the middle of the night, alone.
Christmas? Meh again. Same distances, (non) travel, and third shift issues as Thanksgiving, with a dose of lack of funds to buy presents for everyone you want to buy for, not knowing what to get for those few you can afford to buy for, and hoping they didn't already buy it for themselves (guilty!
). I can usually get away with an Amazon card for mom and her kindle, and a B&N card for my sister and her nook. 
But holding the gifts until Christmas Day? Nope. Since there's no gathering, we haven't bothered with that in years. We buy the gift weeks ahead, we give it as soon as we can get home or get it in the post.
I don't begrudge anyone getting all revved up for the holidays. I'm just not one to get overly excited about it.
Doesn't mean I won't put on my old Xmas albums in December. Gotta have at least a little fun with it.
Meh.
I just can't get excited for the holidays anymore, if I ever really could after my dad passed in '86. We were never ones for big family get-togethers, and nowadays, even less so. In this town, it's just my mom and I. No one else within 250 miles. Besides my sister in DC, the next closest relative under 65 is in... Florida. 900 miles away.
With two replaced knees, and one replaced shoulder, mom doesn't travel well. I can't get time off, and no one else has time or money to come here. Not to mention the sheer panic it would induce at trying to get the house prepared when there's barely time and energy for mere day-to-day existence.
And then there's my work. Even if family did come, third shift means I get out of bed to welcome them, then go right back to sleep. I see them again as they're going to bed and I'm having breakfast. A normal Thanksgiving dinner would be at something like 2-4am by my schedule. So while everyone else is feasting, my "dinner" would be leftovers, in the middle of the night, alone.
Christmas? Meh again. Same distances, (non) travel, and third shift issues as Thanksgiving, with a dose of lack of funds to buy presents for everyone you want to buy for, not knowing what to get for those few you can afford to buy for, and hoping they didn't already buy it for themselves (guilty!
). I can usually get away with an Amazon card for mom and her kindle, and a B&N card for my sister and her nook. But holding the gifts until Christmas Day? Nope. Since there's no gathering, we haven't bothered with that in years. We buy the gift weeks ahead, we give it as soon as we can get home or get it in the post.
I don't begrudge anyone getting all revved up for the holidays. I'm just not one to get overly excited about it.
Doesn't mean I won't put on my old Xmas albums in December. Gotta have at least a little fun with it.
