I am just getting over the stomach flu and it has made me appreciate what I enjoy about the holidays. Food. I enjoy the food, and baking, and sharing things that I enjoy eating with others. I also enjoy booze. I like trying different holiday cocktails and beverages. I love hot, mulled cranberry cider. I can't drink apple cider because I am allergic to apples. It does make the holidays difficult with all of the apple ciders and apple pies out there, but I manage. I love fudge, and cookies, and cheesecake, and ham, and turkey (but only the dark meat), and everything delicious for the holidays.
There are many things I dislike about the holidays, but the food and the lights are not hated. I enjoy them very much. The lights just make things better as they make the world happier, even if it is just for a moment. They create a beauty that is unrepentant and sometimes unexpected. Today, after dealing with several days of the stomach flu, I feel better and I may go out to see some lights tonight. I'm more of a night person too, so it makes it nice to go out, see a brightness in the darkness, while I chew on some fudge or a cookie.
So, yeah, this is an authors blog, but sometimes I have to take a step back and look at what the world holds. This week is about relaxing and enjoying the holidays, next week will be about finishing the book I started during NaNoWriMo. The week after that I am going to be back on the zombie train, and will work on the final book again in my zombie series, especially since I feel like writing again. I feel like a writer. I feel like an author and a person who should be using their hand and their brains to create worlds.
There is a life in me, a life that has felt dormant for the last two years. I feel awake, and it seems as if I needed to go through the stomach flu to cleanse my system.
So for all you out there who might have issues with the holidays, don't worry about it. The holidays aren't for everyone. You have to find something you like, whether it is baking cookies, drinking hot and maybe spiked cider, lights, the smell of a tree, or the smile of someone you've given a gift to, find that one thing. Find that one thing that will and can make you happy, and hold onto it.