When I was a kid I loved the holidays. No school, yummy food and lots of decorations. My mom did a great job at making the house really cozy and lovely. I got so used to her doing all the work that once I lived on my own I never started doing it myself. It was as if I expected the tree to decorate itself or for my mom to come in the night and get things set up. So I went without. And I got used to it. I kept telling myself that I would start decorating and getting into the spirit after I had kids. Because I would have so much more free time right?Now the holiday season is upon us and I have a newborn and a crazed toddler and the thought of not only lugging a tree into the house, but managing to decorate it and guarding it against corgis and toddlers, is exhausting. But then I really want my kids to have holidays as great as mine were. I keep telling myself that they're too young and won't remember/notice anyway but I could see myself using that argument for the next twenty years. And now that Josh and I are together we not only have Christmas (an atheistic version) but Chanukkah as well. Ugh. I did manage to buy a menorah last year but damn if we didn't forget to light the candles every night. Maybe this year we will do better. Or we can just give the kids more material to use in therapy later on. "My parents never even got it together enough to buy us a Christmas tree . . . "