It's the Most Wunnerful Ti-i-i-i-m-e of the Yearrrrr

After writing this post - and too late to write another - I realized the huge irony of poking fun at the stresses in my life on Thanksgiving Day. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I know it. Our holidays tend to be so filled with the work of making a nice day for others that they are less relaxing than I would like. However, I know very well how lucky I am to live in a safe, democratic country, with plenty of food, a comfortable house, universal health care, and freedom from persecution for my beliefs, and I reflect thankfully on those things even in the midst of hurried days.


If you are reading this post on Monday, welcome to our Canadian Thanksgiving Day.

Otherwise known as Wear-Your-Elastic-Waist-Pants Day.

Also known as The-Whole-House-Is-Clean-For-A-Couple-Of-Hours-Until-The-Cats-Are-Allowed-Out-Of-The-Basement-Again Day.

As I said, technically Thanksgiving falls on Monday, but we have our family get-together the day before, to give those who work a chance to recuperate before they head back to their jobs.

It's nice to see our close relatives and share some deliciousness and chitchat.

In many ways, our Thanksgiving is like our Christmas, but without the gifts and the potential for a snowstorm throwing a wrench into travel plans. We eat exactly the same things on both occasions, because there would be a mutiny if we didn't. We clean the house to exactly the same degree on both holidays, because the whole house needs it (with three cats and a twelve-month shedding season, the whole house ALWAYS needs it).

Speaking of Christmas, I have another, more private, name for Thanksgiving.

It's Hear-That-Faint-Noise?-That's-The-Sound-Of-The-Freight-Train-Of-Christmas-In-The-Distance-While-I'm-Standing-On-The-Tracks Day.


In October, that freight train looks innocent enough. Kinda like this:

October is one of my busiest months at work. There is also a family birthday, fall yardwork, Halloween, and craft prep for a November sale. There's still LOADS of time before Christmas arrives, though, right?


By November, that train looks more like this:

Still having fun, because crafts. And craft sale. And Christmas gift browsing. Notice there was no mention of "buying." Whee!! Starting to feel a bit dizzy by the end of the month, though.


And then December hits, and this lurks behind me everywhere I go:

Another family birthday (honestly, who has a baby in DECEMBER for crying out loud? ... er ... we did), and then there's shopping/cleaning/decorating/baking/wrapping/tree/cards/parties. Not enough hours in the day, or night. Decide to send cards for New Year's instead. Make executive decision to skip baking and just buy pies. Throw decorations on tree while vacuuming the cats. Where are the gift cards I bought? "In a safe place." Oh-oh. One year I misplaced all the gift cards and had to go out one hour before stores closed to replace them. Gah. We eventually found and used the originals ourselves, but - gah.

For the 75 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, life here is like a sprint crossed with a marathon combined with leaf-raking and sewing and glue-gunning and pulling out my hair over gift-shopping decisions (culminating in buying gift cards, of course) and mopping and finding the good tablecloth.

So if I happen to go missing, check the basement. It's quiet down there.

Because the cats are all upstairs. Shedding.

We all have our jobs to do, and those cats have never been known to shirk.

That's easy for you to say. You're a red button with white letters. And an attitude.

What's happening with you in the next few months? Feeling stressed or feeling fine?

(Photo and graphics courtesy of Pixabay.)