Christmas Sweaters

I love Christmas. A lot. 

I have always loved Christmas, but there were a few years that I really struggled to feel "it". Some years it was just too much work! One year when Angela was just starting to walk, I didn't put the tree up until the day before Christmas and I took it down the day after. Apparently my other kids weren't feeling it either since they didn't seem to care. 

When Dean and I first met and decided to share house, our home sat far back off the street, up a very steep hill. We put a few lights on the roof, and having my son Tyler come over to climb up there became a tradition. When we found our current house I was excited at the outdoor decorating possibilities. The entry area seemed perfect for Halloween fun, and the rest of the yard would lend itself to fun Christmas decorating. 

We love our new neighborhood, and spent that first summer getting to know our neighbors, with Dean warning them about my tendency to sometimes go overboard with lights. There are a lot of empty nesters on our quiet street, who are past the age of spending hours trying to reach as high as possible with a string of lights. Our first Christmas season here was unusually warm, bringing 70* temperatures in November. It felt odd to be hanging Christmas lights in the trees wearing a t-shirt. I imagined this is how it feels in other parts of our country that don't get buried under feet of snow and frigid temperatures. 

We're celebrating our fourth Christmas in this home. I start setting up the outdoor lights in early November, then on Thanksgiving evening, when the dinner is done, we have a little lighting ceremony in the card. And by ceremony, I mean the family stands in the street and I run around flipping switches and plugging in extension cords. No "big switch" for us like on T.V. The weekend after Thanksgiving is for getting the indoor decorating done, and the tree up. I've been surprised to find Amos is the most excited of the kids. He turns the tree lights on the moment he arrives home from school and spends many hours admiring the tree and talking about Christmas in general. 

Over the last few years I have developed a love of Christmas sweaters, which evolved into a goal: eventually have enough sweaters for every day of December. Ambitious, I know. Frivolous, and totally unnecessary, absolutely. Christmassy all the way! 

One thing I did not take into consideration is my age. I am 52. The middle aged women reading this post know where I'g going with this. They are likely already sweating! 

I thought I was done with this whole change thing. I mean, who goes through it THREE times, much less four??? The first time was chemo induced in 2014. The second time was 2015 with the hormone blocker Tamoxifen, which I was supposed to take for the next eight years but I only lasted about three months before the side effects had me begging my doctor to stop. Then in 2016, as part of my post-cancer treatment I had my ovaries removed, throwing me into menopause like a brick wall! UGH! Then it all went away, and I went on with my Merry life. Or so I thought!!! I have found I am having my own personal summers many times a day now. AGAIN! I call not fair! And also, this is odd since I should have very little, if any estrogen left in my body. (if you haven't seen recent pictures, on the request of my doctors I also lost 85 lbs, because fat both stores and produces a small amount of estrogen) But, mostly, I'm just annoyed that I can't wear what I want. I can put a sweater on and be fine, then 30 seconds later be running back to my closet while stripping as fast as possible! I have finally given up.

I'm hanging onto my sweaters though. Maybe next year I'll be able to wear them!