Rebuilding Rob

I’ve talked I recent days and weeks how I’m probably more excited about Christmas this year than in year’s past. I’m trying to enjoy every last second of it. Having the boys here has been more fun than I even expected.

I think the one thing that he really captured my thoughts is how focused we as a people are on Christmas traditions. Sure, It’s a Wonderful Life corny by today’s standards, but it’s in TV every single year. Hell, E! Is airing it for 24 hour this year – just as TBS and TNT run A Christmas Story for 24 hours every year. Furthermore, we have an absolutely insatiable appetite for all things Christmas. How else can you explain the fact that hundreds of “Hallmark Christmas movies” even exist?

It’s funny, because I remember as a young kid, my mom would want to get a Christmas tree put up immediately after Thanksgiving. And the moment we got our first snow of the season, she would immediately put on Christmas music. People laughed at her back then. People thought it was crazy. but today we have radio stations that switch their format to “all Christmas music“ on November 1. And people seem to dump their chest about getting the Christmas tree up before anybody else. Maybe mom was ahead of the curve. Maybe she saw something in Christmas that it took the rest of us a few decades to catch up to.

For me, a lot of my extra holiday enthusiasm stems from the fact that this is really going to be the last Christmas that I’m going to be able to spend with kid 1 “as a kid“. He turns 18 in March. And the fact is, we won’t be going by any visitation schedule or custodial arrangements from that point forward. I have no doubt that we will still spend holidays together. Naturally, he’ll also want to spend some holidays with his mother as well. But as he gets older, he’s going to have his own life. So I know that this Christmas is the last one that I guaranteed to have both him and a kid 2 together. 

Next year, at least with kid 2 I will have him the week of New Year’s; which essentially means that I will be relegated to “Christmas part 2” as I have come to the week of New Year’s ever since my divorce. so on this date next year, I’ll probably be pretty sad. but I really don’t want to think about that right now.

Right now, it’s the morning of December 24, and Santa still has some more work to do.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not; whetheryou are religious, or spiritual, or one of the above; whether you’re with family and friends and happy; or if you are alone and sad, I wish you the happiest and safest of holiday seasons. Let’s all look out for each other over the next week or so.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
• The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie

The article “ruminations on Christmas Eve “first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.