The holidays are on their way!

  So, nap time is the only "me time" that I really get and that's only if all of my children decide to take one. Today is one of those rare occasions where Ryan actually fell asleep and Eva decided that sleeping is more important to her than eating, so I decided to post a blog, because it's been a while.
  I happen to love Fall. It's my favorite season of all! I don't know if it's the Pumpkin Spice latte's from Starbucks, the leaves changing color or the fact that I'm not looked down upon for wearing a long skirt during this time of year that does the trick, but whatever the reason is it is my absolute favorite time of year.
  Today, in honor of Fall I am thinking about the holidays. Probably because we are going to let the kids go pick out their Halloween costumes tonight...no we don't worship Satan, we just really enjoy candy....especially when it's free:-) After Halloween comes Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right around the corner. I really love the holidays, but I also don't put too much thought into them or more specifically where they originate from. I don't care if most of them were pagan holidays that's not why I celebrate them.
  For me Halloween is all about the candy!!! I remember going out with my dad and pushing myself to keep going until my pillowcase was almost full and too heavy to carry. That candy lasted almost the whole year! We were the trick-or-treating champs of Arnett Blvd. and it was all thanks to my dad shouting at us to let greed fill our hearts...LOL!...he really said that (jokingly of course, but we took him seriously). Then we'd go back to the house for pizza and pop and fill a huge bowl with candy for my dad, so he could keep it in his van and eat it on the road.
  Thanksgiving has always been my favorite! It always makes me feel the happiest. I love having a ton of family all gathered in the same house. There is never enough furniture and all the kids are so loud and obnoxious and at least five drinks get knocked over, but I adore it. I love all the smells: turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, pumpkin pie, coffee, burning candles. It smells like heaven! I also love all the noise: people laughing and talking, glasses clinking, silverware, kids playing, whatever's on the TV. It all comes together in one big hum and sounds like fun. I just love it!
  Christmas has always been more of a relaxing holiday for us. We have a huge breakfast and then do presents in the morning. By the afternoon half of us are napping and the other more adventurous half are heading out to go sledding. Then, we all gather around the table for dinner and finish the night off with a family game.
  The only thing the holidays really mean to me is time spent with family and showing my kids that being around your favorite people in the world is not worth giving up for anything.