That time of the year that I love so much...the holidays! I love them. I love Halloween, I love Thanksgiving and I especially loooooove Christmas! Food, lights, candy, feasting, music, decorations, feasting, feasting (did I say "feasting" more than once? I did...don't judge. I have a very special relationship with food. You should too, it's very nice.) and general merry-making of all sorts.
It's also the time of year that I really start to miss my mom. Don't get me wrong, I miss her year round...but I miss her double around the holidays. She loved the holidays like I do.
Sometimes one of the hardest things about not seeing her is that I kind of forget all the little quirky things that I loved so much. There were lots...she was a super quirky woman...that's where I get it.
A few of my favorite quirks (I so wish I was clever...I could set it to the tune of "My Favorite Things" and it would dove tail perfectly with the Christmas season...ah well):
1. My sweet teeth come from her. Most people have only one sweet tooth...those of us who are super special in the handling sugar department, have many. My mom could take down a box of Little Debbies or a bag of Pepperidge Farm Milanos in one sitting. The two of us together were lethal.
2. She had this pair of purple sweat pants...I mean REALLY purple ya'll. And she liked to pair them with a bright green sweatshirt, her blue cloth clogs, some random socks and her down vest which was...wait for it...MAGENTA! That's right folks, magenta! I have never seen a woman wear so many uncoordinated colors. The thing is, she was so content with who she was that it totally didn't matter. She liked what she liked and that was that. I want to be just like her when I grow up.
3. We used to drive to school/work in the mornings and home in the evenings. It was about 45 minutes each way. It was my favorite time of the day. We'd fight over what radio station...she always won, until we switched over to listening to tapes full time. Christmas was nice, we NEVER fought over music selection, plus I got a break from NPR.
4. I frequently caught her cussing to food while she was trying to prepare it. Pie crusts in particular. I actually don't have a hard time with pie crust, I think she psyched herself out. In fairness to the universe, she was good at literally everything else, so it's only right that she should have one area of which mastery eluded her.
5. She called my first boyfriend "dog breath" after he took another girl to a dance. Not just once, I mean, that is what she called him...all the time. As in, "are you going out with dog breath tonight?" or "dog breath called while you were gone." I lived in constant fear that she would say it to his face, which she thankfully never did. Thank you for that mom.
6. She called every spider that she ever saw, "Charlotte". If I was afraid of it she would scold me. "Jenny!" she would say, "Don't be silly! It's just Charlotte!" Mom, they can't possibly ALL be Charlotte. And Charlotte or not, it's a spider, it's gross, it's frightening and it should not be near me. Go figure, I married a man who will not kill spiders. He scoops them up and takes them outside. What is it with me and these spider loving freaks?
I'm going to stop now. I have this two year old who likes to get into trouble. I should really go attend to that situation. Thanks for indulging me in my long-winded post.
