Christmas Is Here! (Almost).

The thing about Christmas is that it's magical even if you fight it. When C and I began dating, he firmly insisted that Halloween was his favorite holiday. This is fine, really. There's lots of excitement in dressing up, and I find that sometimes people's alteregos should really be their real ones. It reveals a lot about a person willing to dress up in a completely ridiculous costume and then embody it. Nonetheless, I told him, as cliched as it was, that my favorite holiday was Christmas. He responded with, "That's all girls' favorite holiday." We were still early in our relationship, before I was comfortable being a snide asshole with him. So I smiled and told him to simply wait.

And wait he has.

This, our first Christmas under one roof, has presented its fair share of challenges and triumphs.

It is increasingly hard to hide presents from him; he's a snooper and when I lay things out to wrap them, that is the precise moment that he chooses to awaken. He'll stumble out and ask, "Baby, who is this wine for? It looks good." So far, I have lied and pawned everything off on my father. It C was smart, he'd count the presents under the tree and realize that something has got to give.

Initially, it was even difficult to get him to agree to assemble the upstairs tree. "What the hell do we even need two trees for?" he mumbled. This, to any non-Midwestern person, who grew up with siblings, is a logical question. To me, the solid Midwestern, siblingless and (fine, we'll use the s-word) a bit spoiled, seemed ridiculous. I didn't even dignify it with an answer, but told him that I'd found the connecting pieces for A and B. Once the tree was up and lit, however, he seemed to like it. "Should I turn it off?" I'd ask. "Nah, you can leave it on. It makes nice light," he'd respond. I was surprised that he hadn't laid under the tree staring up into the lights like I had as a child. Then I remembered, he was a boy. From Florida.

Last year, C had been uncomfortable with the gift-giving. I will give him that my parents are a bit over the top. They write clues on the gift, they still stuff stockings, they try to find the "perfect" gift every year. His parents haven't really done gift-giving since C entered college. This year, I have gotten to watch him grow excited about presents (although his wrapping skills leave a lot to be desired--it should not take a half a roll of tape to wrap 4 small gifts...) and about giving. It's really a transformation; he sees the purpose in making someone else smile.

We're hosting my family's Christmas extravaganza this year. This means games, white elephant, a ham, liquor, the whole nine yards. I'm not entirely sure that I even understood what we were doing when we signed up for it. But, now that we're in the midst of it, roast beef thawing in my refridgerator, I think we're both excited about it. I can't yet speak to the triumphs (or failures) of this upcoming evening, I'm just hoping that it's going to go well!