Ready or not, the holidays are coming.
I had every intention of putting up some Christmas decorations yesterday, but then Mother Nature decided to go all crazy on Chicago and dropped several tornados around the area- which proved to be a bit of a distraction from my original plan to set up the Christmas tree and put some garland on the fireplace. Tornado sirens tend to ruin the mood a bit.
Having grown up in Nebraska I'm obviously quite used to tornado warnings, but I've never actually experienced one while living in Chicago. And certainly never in mid November, no less. Apparently I wasn't the only one in the city who didn't quite know what to expect either because at one point the Chicago weatherman actually suggested "if you have a bike helmet near by, put it on to protect yourself from flying debris." So of course I put on my helmet and watched anxiously out the window waiting for the tornado to drop. His second suggestion was to "take cover under a mattress", at which point I realized he was probably just talking to all homeless people and not those of us lucky enough to actually have a roof over our head. Have you ever moved a mattress? It's hard as hell. I'd rather take my chances with a twister.
But I'm getting off topic here. My point is that it hit me today that this is the last week before the wonderful hysteria of the holidays are in full force. And just like I warned at the beginning of summer a mere six months ago, it will all be over far too fast if we're not careful.
Thanksgiving will be here one week from Thursday. And after that all of the decorations will go up around neighborhoods and on the streets downtown. Then the Christmas shopping will officially be underway. The skating rinks will be open, the annual lighting parades will start. Holiday music will fill the radio waves. Christmas cards will be sent, parties will be had. Cookies will be baked, egg nog will be drank. And before we even have a moment to soak it all in it will be December 24th and we'll look around and wonder how it all happened so damn fast. It happens every year.
So right now as we're just at the brink of it all, take a deep breath and just try to enjoy the beautiful chaos that will be these next few weeks of holiday fun. At least that's my plan, anyway.
*P.S. I just had a Saturday Spot open for this weekend, it will be the last spot I offer for a few weeks since I am going on vacation. So if you'd like to be featured you can claim it here.
