Being Willy Wonka

As most of you know, my family has a candy company. During the year (January thru Thanksgiving)... its pretty slow around here. Like I've said before - I do arts and crafts, go through the mailing list name by name, and other tasks (like go to every Hobby Lobby in the Harris/Fort Bend county area).

But Christmas is a little different.

CHRISTMAS in my family means starting the Monday after Thanksgiving, my mom, grandmother and I basically move into the factory. We eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2am snack here. We go home to sleep and to shower and then are back bright and early for more paperwork fun. This lasts for about 3 weeks... and then it suddenly become eerily quiet. All the candy is gone. The customers leave. The printers slow. And our slightly interesting version of Christmas is done for another year. Christmas DAY itself is spent sleeping and generally vegging - something we were unable to do during the rest of the holiday season. For a long time, no one got presents from Gran and Papa until AFTER Christmas (since they never had time to shop... but then they figured out how to order gifts online).

Some of my favorite memories have been from Christmas though.

When I was little, I remember spending the night here MANY nights. Curling up on a pallet either in my "office" or under a table while my mom and grandmother made baskets, printed orders, and hand wrote every single greeting card. I would wake up in the middle of the night to them slightly delirious from sleep deprivation and hysterically laughing at something... like Gran pronouncing "Hanukkah", "Cha-NU-kah."  

One Christmas I invented a game I liked to refer to as "Moving Christmas Tree." Basically I found some material with Christmas trees on it, and I put it over my head and would move around and they would have to catch me moving. Like my own personal version of Red Light/Green Light. 

I would play with the shrink wrap machine and make myself shoes out of plastic (feel free to start mocking me anytime now). Everything was done by them and by hand. I think this was also around the time that I learned how to sleep anywhere (a skill that I believe will take me far in life).

But Christmas was always special... as we would make the trek back home every night around midnight or later, my mom and I would sing every Christmas carol we could think of and just laugh.

I guess it wasn't till I was much older that I realized that my Christmas was somehow different from the standard gingerbread cookies, relaxing in front of the fire, reading The Night Before Christmas scene from movies.  And now, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I may not have a white Christmas, but its still a time spent with family, enjoying each other's company, eating together (even if its fast food), and laughing about anything and everything.  We exchange hot chocolate for coffee, and chocolate covered pecans (or in my case, chocolate covered pretzels) for cookies.  But Christmas is truly, the most wonderful time of the year.

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I've Got a Golden Ticket

I finally bought my ONE WAY ticket to Paris.

Talk about scary.

I know that it won't really sink in until I'm on the plane. (I'm not above having a minor breakdown in the middle of an airport.) As I was driving to the airport last summer, my mind was reeling, and I ended up getting a nose bleed. Maybe because I knew that it would be the end of my long-term relationship. Or because I knew it would be the beginning of something incredible. Who says you can't have a physiological reaction to a psychological epiphany?

But at the same time, I knew I was going to return. I had an end date. I had a future plan. Now? Who knows? If anything, I've learned that future plans are just smoke. Ephemeral. Its good to look to the future but to never count on anything.

For a long time, I've had a certain rule in dating: No planning into the future more than the amount of time you've been dating. If you've been dating 1 week, you can plan as far as the next weekend. 1 month, etc. It seems to work fairly well. I wonder if there's a way to apply the same principle to my life?

I guess on one hand, that should make me really really nervous - my lack of plan. Being the extreme organizer that I am. (Many of you can vouch for my obsession with Google Calendars.) But all I can feel is excitement! In my new found freedom from all plans, I have the ability to take advantage of any and every opportunity that comes my way.

Here's to hoping it works out. :-P

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