Not Stressing Over Christmas

I know a lot of people experience stress over the holiday season, but that isn't typically the case for me.  My family is far-flung these days, but close-knit, but when we were all together, we always had a blast during the holidays, sometimes even 'blowing off' opening presents until Boxing Day because we were too busy carousing with family and friends.

This year, my only source of stress regarded what Mom would be doing for Christmas.  I was able to take a week off for Thanksgiving to drive Mom down to my brother Vincenzo's home to celebrate, but I made a 'I'll take Thanksgiving off, you take Christmas off' deal with a coworker.  Thankfully, my baby brother, Gomez, will be picking Mom up and driving her to his home for Christmas.  Mille grazie, fratellino (the joke here is that baby brother is built like a brick house)!

I don't have stress out over the holidays, knowing that Mom will be fêted by Gomez and his family.  It's also meaningful because she hasn't hung out with his in-laws in a while.  Now, I can concentrate on the mundane tasks, such as hanging out with the cat while working on Christmas.