Tis the Season

So it's December 30, 2009 and while my Christmas hangover is working its way out of my system, it is still present. Between my girlfriend and I's families we celebrated a whopping total of six Christmases. While there was a lot of driving between Philadelphia, York and Gettysburg, I cannot begin to say how thankful I am to have so many people that truly care about me. I love everyone!

Instead of bitching about all the driving, gas, and tolls, I decided to take a step back and truly appreciate all the great food and drinks I got to enjoy. My girlfriend's grandmother makes some really good eggnog and at her other grandparents' Christmas party there was never a shortage of beer or laughs.

Leave it to me though on Christmas Day to get a little over-anxious while eating my Nana's I-around roast beef. We hadn't been at her house for more than an hour when I began coughing on the juicy, red piece of meat. Coors Light couldn't push it down, and I began to spit out foamy beer on my plate. My brother rushed to my aid and when I was finally stabilized and breathing, the meat was still stuck, so I spent the next few hours in the emergency room until I threw it up. Best vomiting I had ever experienced. In the true spirit of puke-and-rally, I grabbed my coat and went back to my Nana's.

Every year I have some kind of realization over the holidays. This year it was that Christmas is important and special--as well as chew my food more thoroughly. I walk past people in ripped up clothes and shoes sleeping on the streets everyday, so who am I to complain about having six Christmases to celebrate? I'm lucky. Fortunate to say the very least.

While it is not easy to split up the holidays with a significant other, it is fun. It takes compromising and patience, but it is more than worth it. And that's another thing to be happy about over the holidays, having someone special with which to celebrate them.

Holidays are beautiful. They are wondrous times meant for family and friends. Good food and good, hospitable times. As 2009 and this first decade of this century and even millennium comes to a close, I find myself content and happy about where my life sits, but as always when the winter holiday season comes to a close, I find myself looking around, trying to figure out what I have to look forward to. It has become a tradition of sorts. I love the proximity of Thanksgiving and Christmas so much that I have a hard time saying goodbye to them.

I realize it's a childish immaturity of mine. I know holidays can't last forever, and therein lies their beauty. Once a year. Cherish these special times.

In all of my missing of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I began to look ahead into 2010. What's on tap? Christmas isn't for another year, but the NFL Playoffs start in a little more than a week. The Steelers may not make it, but it's the playoffs for crying out loud. After the Super Bowl? The Winter Olympics! Not quite the summer games, but Olympics only happen every two years. Besides, bobsledding is frickin sweet. After NBC is done pumping us full of Bob Costas, NCAA basketball will be warming up as March nears.

Then there's college wrestling, the Penn Relays, the weather gets warm, and somewhere in between all of this is the beginning of a new baseball season. Oh, and 2010 is a FIFA World Cup Summer! I can't wait! It's the changing of seasons, the turning of pages. New chapters, new books even. I go back to it a lot, but it's just beautiful how the calendar changes like clockwork and so do the seasons of sports.

2010 is gonna be a great year!