Bittersweet Autumn

I've been reading about how everyone was so ready for summer to end and autumn to begin. Autumn signifies cooler temperatures, beautiful foliage, apple pie, Halloween, and many other wonderful things. I truly enjoy the fall season but oh how I wish it was a bit longer! It comes and goes so quickly - already you can see some of the mums wilting in the above photo and it isn't even technically autumn until Saturday! Living in the northeast, I've had four seasons since day one. I am blessed to have a lovely home in a lovely part of the country - I just can do without winter. Scratch that, I can do without winter after January 1. White Christmases can certainly be magical but after New Year's all the snow, ice, and freezing temps can go buh-bye!

As we enter this wonderful autumn season, I'm already starting to feel the stress of the Christmas season. Growing up, my mother always disliked Christmas time. I could never understand - Christmas was my favorite! How I wanted that magical feeling to stay with me all year! How in the world could anyone dislike it? How in the world could anyone not be filled with Christmas joy! Now that I am a married woman, I understand my mother's point of view. I still truly love Christmas and I get the warm fuzzies as we approach but I also get the heebie jeebies as I think about all of the Christmas shopping and how it falls on me to shop for both my family and my husband's family (wait, how did he survive all those bachelor years?!). How there is stress to make the yard look aglow in light, the tree to be trimmed just so, the house to be decorated with warmth and light and cheer. I feel added pressure because my front yard won our local garden club's holiday house award last year! That was such a highlight until I realized I need to keep this up year to year!

Wait, I'm getting way ahead of myself! Being the event planner that I am, I'm already devising ways to knockout this holiday stress once and for all. I've already begun to create the Christmas list of gifts I want to buy for everyone, I'm also going to get the Christmas photo done early this year and have the cards printed well in advance, I'm not going to stress about having the perfect house, and just go with what my heart tells me. I'm bound and determined to bring back that wonderful childhood feeling and banish the dread from such a magical time of year! I must point out that I don't yet have little ones (other then my cutie dog) - imagine what a basket case I'll be once they come into the picture! Okay Karla, relax, enjoy life. Sometimes I have to remind myself that these are not real problems or areas of concern. I don't live in Iraq or Darfur. I am healthy, my family is healthy. Life is good. Bring on the snow.