Getting Ready for the Holidays

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Tuesday marks the start of December, and my DVR is set to record about ten different holiday movies and specials in the coming week. There's no doubt about it, the holidays are here and let me tell you, I am ready.

For the last week or so, my iPod has continuously looped a playlist consisting only of the three Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas albums, Josh Groban's holiday CD, and that annoying Mariah Carrey version of "All I Want for Christmas Is You." I was no sooner done eating turkey and apple pie on Thursday when I just had to watch Love Actually on TV and today I went to see my little cousin dance as Fritz in Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker.

Growing up we had the best holiday traditions. We went to my aunt and uncle's house in NH in early December to select the perfect tree from their Christmas tree farm. On Christmas Eve the whole family would gather at my grandparents' house for seven courses of seafood and presents. On Christmas itself, my granny would make a pot roast and spoil us silly with presents.

But with time, traditions have changed. My parents don't go crazy with decorating now that my sister and I have moved out and my roommates think I'm crazy for wanting to buy a real tree (which I expect them to help set up in our third floor walk-up). We still have Christmas Eve dinner with all that fish, but people have moved and there are fewer of us. My grandmother has cut back to a sensible amount of gifts but the pot roast is still amazing.

And despite these changes, I am still looking forward to the holidays as much as ever. My daily gingerbread soy lattes and never-ending lists of people to send cards to really seem to help.

Meanwhile, this year I find myself getting ready for the holidays at work as well. At CSN I am busy making sure that all of the holiday requests are in and that we're finding coverage for them. This coming Monday is the infamous "Cyber Monday," the e-commerce equivalent of Black Friday. At Second Time Around we had a post-Thanksgiving sale all weekend and we're encouraging people to stop in for gifts as well as fabulous outfits for holiday parties.

Oddly enough, I think that Twitter is the source of much of my early holiday cheer, both work-wise and personal-wise. Using Twitter to advertise holiday sales and seeing the holidays under trending topics is helping me realize that I am not the only nutcase out there who starts celebrating over a month early!