During the month of November and December we have a lot of holidays going on for a lot of different people. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and winter solstice to name just a few of the most common. Christmas gets a lot of commercial attention, but your family’s holiday can be just as much fun and just as lovely as those glossy magazine spreads, even though it may not be Christmas.
Halloween candy is super easy to get addicted to and it takes so much time to get over. I have a huge candy jug on my desk and everyone is totally surprised that I don’t dive into it every day. It has taken me a while to find my willpower but it is there. Lurking under the protective layer of blubber that is my body. Hahahahaha!
How many of you hear the word Chanukah and immediately start singing “Hanukkah oh Hanukkah come light the menorah”? It’s definitely one of my favorites when it comes to singing Hanukkah songs. growing up Jewish and at different times of my life in different Jewish Community settings somewhere a large community and others were quite small. In high school I only knew of about 10 people at my school who were Jewish. And found out 20 years later that several others so I graduated with were also Jewish but kept it under wraps.
Let’s get creative with some super amazing pumpkin decorating and carving techniques this year. I’m the Halloween QUEEN! I absolutely love this holiday. I love fall! I love the smells of fall like clove, cinnamon, pine, pumpkin, apple pie and many others! I love the warmth of the winter season like cozy blankets, hot cocoa, fuzzy socks, warm flannel PJs, and lifetime movies. I have a panache for halloween. I love things that are creepy and crawly. I’m fascinated with the concepts of ghosts and haunted places. So wrap all this up in two months of holiday bliss for me and I’m in heaven.
If the holidays are all about family, togetherness, food and fun, at least that’s what mine are about, then why the hell do I feel so much holiday stress? Shopping for the perfect gifts, budgeting for those gifts, wrapping and hiding those gifts(my brother and I were masters at finding the wrapped gifts my mom thought she had hidden well!). lol #sorrynotsorrymom Maybe we’re missing loved ones who have passed, or are no longer in our lives. Perhaps that one family member who has to talk all the time about his favorite orange president until you find yourself silently stabbing yourself under the table with a fork. Many people suffer from all these different types of stress during the holidays. So let’s chat about them and how to work to prevent the holiday blues from tarnishing your holiday mood.
As a child growing up Jewish, I remember celebrating certain BIG Jewish holidays, like Rosh Hashanah, in a large synagogue outside San Francisco somewhere. Don’t ask me, I don’t remember the name. (maybe ask my mom) But the place was HUGE and with many buildings. I also don’t remember the inside of the sanctuary ONE BIT. But I remember the lobby, which was the sanctuary for kids looking for sanctuary from the sanctuary. LOL!