Are holidays important?

Our first 16 years of marriage, I celebrated our meeting, our first date, our first kiss, our engagement, and our marriage. But last year and this we haven’t done that.

And we didn’t do anything for Halloween. R took the kids out for dinner and even though I actually made it home from work, I didn’t turn on the lights and hand out candy. Foolish me.

We didn’t do Veteran’s Day on Saturday, even though I had wanted to go to the parade. … I guess I didn’t want it badly enough to go, even if R didn’t want to.

But I miss holidays. What is it about my life that makes me not pay attention to them? It would have been fun to get my alien costume on and answered the door. It would have made me bawl to be at the parade.

What are the holidays supposed to be? What should they be?

Last year at Thanksgiving we were at Disney and it didn’t feel like Thanksgiving. Those people didn’t get to go away and see their families. I was thankful. We had a lot of fun.

I guess that’s it. We have fun when we do different things, but we don’t often do anything different except try out new restaurants.

I have a November resolution. I want to celebrate the holidays. We need to do something special for Thanksgiving. Maybe write down stuff we are thankful for? The boys and I did that one year and put the list on the wall. It went from the ceiling to the floor. I wonder if they remember that.

We need to plan something special for Christmas, even though we are going to be on a cruise. Maybe we could take small (but good) gifts with us to open Christmas eve? Mom and Dad are only planning on presents for the children. I need to find something small and good for A, G, and AK. But I need something small and good for R and my boys too. It needs to feel like Christmas.

I wonder how much money we have to spend on Christmas presents.

But I just want it to feel like holidays. Who wants 365 days of the same?