I am a holiday geek

With Thanksgiving next week and Halloween long over you can't go anywhere without seeing or hearing signs of the season everywhere. I started playing some of my favorite carols a week ago. I always revert to those old standards especially if I feel stressed.

The newsroom of the Banner gets a little nutty at times, and loud. We have sports guys and an assistant editor who is an old sports editor plus the ad sales folks who all chime into the many discussions that take place. It gets loud and difficult to concentrate.

Last week "the boys" were wound up about some ball player, don't even ask me who, and in a heated discussion. I sit between them so their talks often take place over my head and around my desk.

I was trying to get a story finished so I could work on another project and my concentration was just plain gone. I popped on my headphones and dialed into the all Christmas radio station.

After a few minutes of just closing my eyes and listening to one of my all time favorite carols--"Oh Holy Night"--I was transported back to one of my childhood memories of sitting in our church at midnight with candles flickering and the smell of fresh cut pine. Nestled between my dad and mom holding my very new doll and watching my grandmother who had come from Ohio to visit, smack two of my brothers for elbowing each other, I had such a sense of love and wellbeing. (Is that an oxymoron? My grandmother did it gently and lovingly. I would have preferred she smacked them a little harder).

My memory of that night may be why "Oh Holy Night" remains my favorite carol.

Or perhaps it was the wonder and awe I felt as a five-year-old watching the procession carrying the baby Jesus down the aisle to be placed in the manger next to his mother and father. He was safe between them just like I was.

It's good we have memories and it's even better that we can continue to make new ones. With both my parents gone I hold tight to some of those memories, especially this time of year.

This thanksgiving for us will be a little different by my doing. Our son will still be in Alaska at school on Thanksgiving and my mother-in-law died this summer. This made me think about how different Thanksgiving would be for us. My husband and I talked about it and decided to take a quick jaunt to the Smoky Mountains over the turkey day weekend.

My daughters have other families who are more than happy to get a chance to have them for the holiday they have always spent with me. Our son claims he will be fine and that many of his schoolmates will be in the dorm with him. He promises to eat turkey and watch football all afternoon.

You know second thoughts hit later after the cabin was reserved and plans made. I couldn't go without celebrating Thanksgiving with the family, so this weekend we will make a new tradition and join together for a day of thanksgiving before the traditional one.

Not everyone will be there physically but they will be in our hearts. We will eat turkey and gravy, bicker back and forth, laugh and fight over who gets to sit at the kids table.

Because the day itself doesn't really matter only spending time together with the people you love most in the world. We'll do that this weekend. We'll call our son in Alaska together and, we'll say a special prayer for my mother-in-law and for Grandpa and Grandma who gave us all so many fond holiday memories.

We'll tell the same old stories about things the kids did when younger and we'll add tales that now include the grandkids and the fiancée and son-in-law who have now joined our family.

I think I'll even make them all listen to Christmas carols starting with "Oh Holy Night." Maybe it will stir up some special memories for them someday that they will tune into during a stressful moment. And, it will bring a moment of warmth and peace to them.

To all of you I wish you a wonderful holiday season filled with all the light, wonder and joy of childhood.