Time to be nice to the people you can’t stand all year:

Well, it’s Christmas this week. I haven’t been feeling the holiday cheer much this year, because (a) my husband will not be with us for Christmas, AGAIN, and (b) we will not be in Hawaii for Christmas. Both of these suck severely. Okay, last year Husband and I were together on Christmas Day, but we didn’t have the kids with us (we did Christmas when we got home, on the 30th), but at least we were in Hawaii. Last year I spent Christmas Eve morning at the USS Arizona memorial and the Bishop Museum. Husband had off on Christmas Day (he worked every other day that I was there), and we drove around the island together sight-seeing, since there was an island-wide blackout and we couldn’t really do anything else even if it wasn’t a holiday. I was hoping to do all that (minus the blackout) again this year, but this time with the kids with us, but it didn’t work out. So we’re here by ourselves for Christmas.

We put up the tree two weeks ago or so, decorated it, the boys have watched the Grinch (Boris Karloff version, of course) a hundred times, we got a picture with Santa, I wrapped the presents and mailed off cards, and we’ve eaten some store-bought Christmas cookies, but mainly I haven’t been feeling especially Christmas-y. I’m starting to get excited now, though, as it gets closer to actually being Christmas. I’m going to make spritz cookies tomorrow, because it isn’t Christmas without spritz cookies made to my mom’s recipe – must go buy red and green sugar in the morning and dig out the cookie press. Will probably make sugar cookies with the boys on Tuesday. And on Christmas Eve I’ll watch the Forgotten Carols DVD and cry, cause it always makes me cry, and I’ll put out the presents and think about the expensive belly dance workshop I’m going to in February as my Christmas present, and on Christmas morning I’ll videotape the kids opening their presents and upload the videos to YouTube so Husband can see it. Which reminds me, I have to seriously clean the house before then so I can pretend I don’t let it slide when he’s out of town.