Festivities and madness

I was just thinking about holidays and parties.  When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to grow up and host parties.  My aunt was the perfect hostess.  It seemed like she knew how to do everything-make the perfect cocktails, exotic dishes, her decorations were charming and elegant.  She made Martha Stewart look like an eastern bloc haus frau.  My mom's specialty was Christmas.  I remember she hosted my youth group's Christmas party one year.  It was way cool, still tops the charts in my books.

So here I am, knocking ever so gently on 40's door, with my own 9 year old about to be 10 year old and Christmas less than a month away.  Last year, I did the big birthday party at my house with all the people.  I was pooped.  It didn't seem like it was really up to my aunt's standards, I don't know, I was too stressed to really enjoy it for myself.  Javy was happy, that's all that counts.  This year, I'm thinking simple, dinner at Wrangler's while Javy gets lavished with attention.  

So that got me to thinking, duh, my aunt was probably freaking out on the inside, too.  My mom obviously has been scarred by her past successes, because she's perfectly content to be a hermit and never socialize, again.  So I should never give up on my pursuit of making others have the time of their lives.  I'm still going simple for Javy's birthday, though.

But Christmas....  I just can't control that urge to go all out, no matter how much it hurts.  And just like Clark Griswald Sr, I'm gonna need a lot of help from Jack Daniels.