180 degree difference

Today's Holidailies Prompt:  "How is this December different from last year?"

I don't think this December could be much different from last December.  I'm working rather than in school, I live in the DC area rather than the STL area... okay, I guess those changes aren't so drastic after all.

While I was in school, I always felt like I didn't have a chance to enjoy the holiday season.  Finals kept me swamped and when it was all over, it was already Christmas.  It was like the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas didn't really even exist.  And considering how much I love the Christmas season, with the music and the lights, that was always a big disappointment to me.  I felt like I missed the whole season.  And frequently, by the time Christmas rolled around, I was still so tired from all the stress and the work that I didn't really get the chance to enjoy it.

This year, I'm working full time.  I'm currently at a point at work where I'm not in the middle of any hugely time-consuming projects, which means that I'm not working much over a 40 hour work week.  So I do have the freedom to enjoy the season.  I've got a number of holiday events to attend in the next few weeks, and then on the 21st, I fly home for just over a week.

Just the fact that I have to fly home makes this year significantly different.  I haven't stayed at my parents house during the Christmas season since Christmas of 2003.  I always had my own place to go back to.  That will be a change, but a nice one.  It is the first year, however, that we won't all be together on Christmas morning.  My brother will likely stay at his own house that night and then come over late that morning.  I think that might be the strangest part.  We won't all be sitting around in our pjs (and Dad and me in church clothes) opening presents and mocking my brother for how sleepy he is.

But just as some things have changed drastically, some things are staying the same.  We're still getting together as a family on Christmas Eve.  As far as I know, I'm still playing in the brass choir at Christmas Eve Mass.  That will be different this year, though, as the woman who organized it for years passed away this summer.  We're trying to put it together in her honor, but since I'm halfway across the country, I'm not really part of any of the organizing.  I'm just going to show up to play.  Dad and I will still sing at 7:30 mass on Christmas morning.  And it will still feel painfully early after a family gathering the night before.  We will still have stockings and presents under the tree, and we will have brunch and we will have a big dinner for friends and family that night.

It's nice to know that as much as things change, some still stay the same.  Maybe we're just forming new traditions.