I know…it’s been awhile. You’d think I would have used this time to get ready for the upcoming holidays. I did manage to get the house decorated and fill the basement with gifts for the kids, but I’ve fallen prey to a false sense of completion that is going to bite me in the ass in 15 days. I haven’t bought a single non-Santa gift or started a single craft or baked a single goodie or dressed the kids, loaded them up, pleaded, bribed, begged and cried in order to get a holiday photo taken before the holidays have come and gone. I’m not stressing though. I’ve decided that if it gets done I’ll be happy, and if it doesn’t, we’ll manage anyway. In these times of anxiety and economic uncertainty, the cliche of “just being together” couldn’t ring more true. I don’t need anything, my family doesn’t need anything, and my kids most certainly don’t need any more material goods. Getting together, eating yummy food, toasting having made it another year, being reminded that family and friends transcend the hustle and bustle, gift-wrapping, credit-card-swiping commercialism…that is what the holiday season is all about. I look at my happy, healthy children, my cozy, warm home, my beautiful tree, nativity scene and menorah, and I’m at peace.  (No…I did not drink a glass of scotch wine before writing this post. I’m seriously not going to stress out this year. Unlike me, I know…but I really mean it.)