Holidays

When did I start looking forward to Thanksgiving more than Christmas? On Thanksgiving, I can get up at a reasonable time (not more than a couple hours earlier than usual), eat a huge and satisfying meal (the best meal of the year, in fact) among a mercifully small crowd of family, and then lounge around the house the rest of the night, doing whatever I feel like. On Christmas, I have to get up early in the morning (which is the absolute worst time of the day for me to get up), after the previous night's crowded, claustrophobic family party, and then stay up all. day. long. until the evening (after dinner) when I can finally stop visiting family and just collapse into bed. And that's not even mentioning the consumer nightmare that is gift-giving (let alone the preparations for it)! Give me a break!