Alright, here we go… the beginning of the holiday season. In my book, it’s the “Happy Season”, and begins October 1st and ends around January 7th.

First up, Halloween. Trick or treat, Charlie Brown, all that junk. Inevitably,
Mr. Ludy and I have a Halloween party to go to, which I absolutely hate, because he always tells me about it at the last minute, and I DREAD having to come up with a costume. You’d think it would be simple, he being an animator and all, but of course, it’s not. One year, he went as Ed Wood, and I went as his girlfriend. Let me just say, if you have to explain your costume, it’s a L-A-M-E costume!

Anyway, because Mr. Ludy is an animator, works with other animators, and because they are all crazy about cartoons, Japanese Anime and science fiction crap, a lot of his fellow “animator nerds” have been working on their Halloween costumes for months; it’s like an addiction with them. How in the hell do you compete with that? It’s too much pressure for one night of trickery that leads to hardly any treats. Hell, if I want that kind of pressure, I’d sign up to be Donald or Martha’s apprentice! I’d rather stay home, greet the kiddies with a martini in one hand, and a huge bowl of candy in the other, and let them see how much they can stuff into their orange pumpkin candy sacks!

Next, Thanksgiving. LOVE this holiday, because it’s the one day a year I give myself carte blanche to eat and drink until I’m sick! As you may know, I’m a gourmet cook; unfortunately, this has spoiled Mr. Ludy for anyone else’s cooking. That’s why I make dinner at our house, and then we go visit friends for after-dinner drinks and dessert. This year our friend, Carol Anne, is coming from Portland to stay with us; looking forward to that, as she’s a riot, AND Mr. Ludy’s best audience. My theory is why get stuck with family on holidays; no way! Having to endure the family pleasantry of arguing over who beat whom at football, sneaking Belvedere into my coffee cup, so I can take my mother-in-law saying “when I make the turkey, I baste it every hour, not every 15 minutes.” Oh really? Perhaps that’s why when it’s cut in to, a puff of smoke comes out; or telling Mr. Ludy, “your Uncle Eddie keeps grabbing my ass”, isn’t my idea of a good time. Why suffer through all of that!

On to Christmas. This year there are 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it won’t seem as though the holiday bird’s just been put away, and it’s time to roast another. I’ll have Christmas cards done and out the door by the first week of December, and will have moved onto holiday gift shopping.

Hold on! Let’s stop right here and discuss rules for gift purchasing. I absolutely hate it when people send you a gift, you’re all excited, open it, and it’s a coffee cup with a duck on it. What the hell is that? Glad to know I mean so much to you; now I’m getting your re-gifts?

Let’s review my rules for gift giving. I call it…
Judy Ludy Gift Giving 101
Rules #1 – NEVER, EVER give an impersonal gift like a coffee cup or a damn vacuum cleaner. What’s the point? Are you telling them they suck they life out of you by giving them a vacuum? A gift should be thought of as an extension of the recipient’s personality. Take a moment and think about their hobbies, interests, environment, and see what might fit into their world.

Rule #2 – Never give a gift that imposes YOUR personal taste and style on the recipient; think about THEIR likes and dislikes. It’s not about you!

Rule #3 – NEVER, EVER give a re-gift. I’m sure many will disagree with me on this, but I’m telling you…NO RE-GIFTS! I do not want some lame-ass gift that was given to you; you didn’t want it, so you then turned around, re-wrapped it, and gave it to me. A gift is a reflection of your love and caring for the recipient; re-gifting a $2.99 bottle of Two-Buck Chuck, a fuzzy leopard print picture frame, or a multi-striped orange and red “vintage sweater” from 1970 is not an acceptable gift.

Rule #4 – If you have to stop and think if the gift is inappropriate, trust me, it is! It’s not a race to get everyone crossed off your list. Gift giving takes time, and you have to make the time to do it. Don’t make it a chore; approach it as a privilege that you have so many people in your life that you care about, and who care about you, and now you want to show them how much they are loved and appreciated. It will make the gift giving process a hell of a lot easier.

Happy New Year! New Year’s Eve is always a greatly anticipated holiday. A time to toss away all the ugly thoughts and evils from the previous year, write a new set of goals, and start out fresh! Unfortunately, this is also where people make the mistake of building up the evening’s event in their mind, so no one, or nothing can live up to the expectation. Just because Donald Trump can take his private jet to Paris and bring in the New Year at the Eiffel Tower, doesn’t mean you can. Make plans that fit into your lifestyle and budget. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, but don’t make it the “end all/be all” for your mate; it puts too much pressure on them AND you to perform, and usually ruins the entire evening.

And finally, the first week of January. I stay home, take down the tree, put the gifts away, write the thank you cards, and get organized for the coming year. New goals, new thoughts, and a week of rest before I hit the ground running can make all the difference in the world, AND gets me headed in the right direction for the New Year.

I suspect even for the coldest of hearts, it IS the most wonderful time of year.