December 26th: My Favorite Holiday

No, I’m not celebrating Boxing Day or Kwanza. I’ve been planning for and celebrating Christmas since Black Friday. My daughter cooked a delicious Christmas dinner and we had a family gift exchange. Christmas is a big deal in our family. Like most families. But December 26 still remains my favorite holiday. Or really, it’s the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s Day that are my favorite holiday days.

Christmas was great but on December 26th it’s over. No more struggle to shop for gifts. No more spending, baking, or wrapping. Santa has gone home.

No one comes to my house on December 26th. Nobody expects anything from me. I can sleep late if I want or get up extra early. I can wear toasty warm sweat pants or even stay in my pajamas all day.

I can enjoy my holiday decorations, play Christmas CD’s, burn candles. I don’t have to do any cooking. I have lots of delicious leftovers and they take no more effort than setting the timer on the microwave. I have pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies, and eggnog. Or, if family feasting has left me feeling stuffed, I can skip a meal and instead enjoy a midnight snack of cheese and crackers.

I have new Christmas gifts to explore – a knitting book I’ve been anxious to check out, a new sketch pad and charcoal pencil set. If I choose, I can surf the internet. I can shop for myself and buy the things for me that I want but didn’t get for Christmas. I can spend the day watching Christmas movies I didn’t have the time for before Christmas. I can read magazines or a good novel while the fake Netflix fireplace crackles and snaps on my TV screen.

In a day or two I might go out shopping. I’ll hit the post Christmas sales. Have a nice lunch out with my daughter. I’ll want to clean and organize my entire house. I’ll want to start new craft projects, new knitting projects, new paintings. I’ll cook a nice dinner and enjoy another batch of leftovers for a couple days after that. I might go for a walk if the weather remains good. I might go for a walk if we have a snowstorm.

December 26th. Christmas is over. But holiday time has only just begun.