{I’d like to preface this by saying, I actually have a few disorders (which are probably real and serious.)  I’m not making light of any true and life-altering afflictions by writing this.  If you suffer from a disorder, I ask you to see this for the fun-poking satirical post it is, and not get your panties all in a wad about my non-disorder.}

I Clark Griswol’d the shit out of Christmas this year.  If you’re not a fan of the movie “Christmas Vacation” that may not mean a lot to you so I’ll just break it down like this:  I overdid pretty much everything.  And that, in and of itself, is the way I like to do things.  I can turn the most simple of activities into an epic event.  There will be color-schemed outfits, an itinerary and matching scrapbook templates for whatever situation I choose to  make a family memory out of.  If you’re involved in said event, you better plaster a smile on your face and pretend to enjoy it or I will TAKE YOU OUT.  That alone is a disorder.  What I  can do with that affliction around the Christmas Holiday/Winter Solstice Extravaganza is a damn derangement.

Here’s how it all began… Not once in our nine years of togetherness had the Hubbs and I spent a holiday entirely at home.  There are three families to juggle and at least one of them always feels left out.  So… we RUN.  Some time in the recent past one or more of the kids asked us if Santa even knows where we live.  That was it for me.  The Hubbs and I decided, family drama be damned, Santa’s fitting his fat ass down our chimney this year.  {Nevermind our fireplace is gas.}  Sometime around Halloween it was official and I began planning.

We invited one side of my in-laws to join us – mom, dad and two sisters-in-law, plus an awesome golden lab type dog.  {I dunno- she’s big and lopey and cute.}  This was going to be EPIC.  (That word just cracks me up when used to describe… pretty much anything.)

In case I forgot to mention it, I’m totally Clark  Griswold.  I’m Clark on a year that we won’t even be home.  A year when I get to be hostess and my home is the North Pole of family Christmas gatherings?  Well, I’m just fucking nuts!  We had the most gorgeous Christmas trees.  (Yes, that’s plural.)  I spent my kids’ college funds on gifts I’m pretty sure they still haven’t even seen yet.  I spent THREE DAYS pouring over cookbooks and websites determining our Christmas Eve and Day Menus.  I can’t say it any way other than I lost my freaking mind.   AND IT WAS EPIC.

And then… Christmas came and went in a fucking blur.  There is just no other way to put it.  I started decorating the house a couple of days after Thanksgiving and I finished on Christmas Eve.  I spent the holiday season running around like a damn lunatic.  I loved every moment.  Never you mind my back was so out of whack I couldn’t even bend over without looking like Betty White after the Boston Marathon {oh yah- she’s a runner}.  No need to even mention I had a bit of a cold coming on and was in severe danger of being the Typhoid Mary of the birth of the Christchild.  None of it mattered.  I existed on four hours of sleep and the adrenaline rush of being Mrs.  Claus and Betty freaking Crocker all rolled into one.  AND IT WAS EPIC.

Then… it happened.  The final meal was consumed.   Most of the Christmas mess was somewhat contained.  And I fell apart at the seams.  I developed the Holiday Hangover from Hell.  {I only had one glass of wine with dinner.  Oh- and a couple of mimosas earlier.  None of that is of any consequence.}  This was a Holly.Jolly.Hang.Over.

The Hubbs calls it my Post-Christmas Depression.

That cold I’d been staving off hit like a mac truck.  My back literally just fell right out of my ass.  I sat around on the couch for two and a half days looking dazed and confused and I still can’t walk from one room of the house to the next without wondering why the hell I came in here in the first place.

I can’t bring myself to take down the Christmas decorations because I just can’t believe it’s over.  My Christmas tree consists of bare branches with a pool of needles at its base and it looks lovelier than ever with the ornaments just tinking in the wind.  Never mind it could go up in flames at any moment because I refuse to turn the lights off.  It holds the memories of laughter and HOLY-SHIT-HOW-MUCH-MONEY-DID-WE-SPEND and marks the first and BEST Christmas we’ve ever had as a family at home.  I freaking LOVED having Christmas here.  I know I became a prisoner of materialism and overdoing it.  I promise to tone it down next year {maybe}.  I’ll try not to have a holly jolly hangover for three days.  There are no guarantees.  None.  I just can’t wait to do it again.

I hope your celebrational debauchery was equally hangover inducing.  Happy New Year.  I look forward to sharing my resolutions with you.  #1 on the list will be… earn real hangovers.  {okay, maybe not #1}