Eeeeee!

That's my excited noise, if you didn't know. Sometimes I feel so happy that it overwhelms me, and I have to clap my hands together and squeal, Eeeee! That doesn't happen to everybody? Oh.

My Monday Madness has officially dissipated, and I am finally ready for the week! Actually, for the rest of the year! Just this morning, I got egg nog delivered to my door, and I swear to God, it tasted like Christmas. That one sip changed everything. Suddenly, I want to string garland from all the staircase banisters! I want a cornucopia centerpiece! I want to burn fig and firewood oil! I want to put tiny lit trees in every room of the house! I want to bake a gajillion pumpkin pies (and secretly leave them on my neighbors' doorsteps). I want to play Mannheim Steamroller CDs! I want to grab this holiday season by the shoulders and shake out every last bit of its cheer and festivity! Sound a little rough? Yeah, well, I want to make the absolute MOST out of this season...

See, I've ALWAYS loved this part of the year; from October to January, life feels like one big party to me. I mean, you got Halloween--dressing up in ridiculous costumes, handing out/receiving FREE candy, and basically acting like a kid again. It's a FABULOUS holiday, if you ask me; I can't seem to get enough of it. Then you got Thanksgiving--getting the whole damn fam together for some serious grubbing, and by serious, I mean NOT thinking twice about that second helping of stuffing AND cornbread AND cranberry sauce AND green bean casserole AND pumpkin pie....Like alcohol, Thanksgiving messes with our self-control. (Thank God I don't eat turkey anymore, or I'd have some serious inhibition issues. Yipes). Then there's Christmas! Yet another excuse to get the family together and eat tons of food. Granted, Christmas also brings with it house lights and yard creatures and pine trees and snow and stockings above roaring fireplaces. Just writing all that made my heart back-flip :) And THEN, and THEN you've got New Year's Eve! A night to reminisce the past and party--I mean prepare ;)--for an entirely new year. Fireworks, champagne, friends, and second chances (the grown-up version of do-overs, which I take full advantage of)...all reasons for celebration <3

But this holiday season is different than any before...And I'm thinking it's because a new holiday has been added to the mix--a wee little thing called a wedding! December 19th is a stone's throw away, my friends! Can you believe that Ms. Erin Mathews will be Mrs. Erin Ware in less than 40 days?! Me neither! I'm foreseeing Mrs. Ware doing some mind-blowing things though...so the sooner I can bring her front and center, the better. Yes, I'm giddier than a goat right now because my usual excitement about the holiday season has blended with my current excitement about my wedding. It's excitement overload, people! Eeeee, I tell you! Eeeee!

Not to mention, this giddiness has made me more aware of my senses. All this heightened excitement, and now I've got heightened senses, too?! I'm seeing in full color--a yellow leaf against the gray-blue sky, the light from our kitchen window brightening the front steps. I'm smelling the cold of winter--its burnt-firewoodsy smell that reminds me of the taste of snow. Which brings me to my tasting--the hot, hot oatmeal with the creamy, nutmeggy swallow of egg nog. I'm listening more closely--to A's feelings, his worries, his dreams. In his voice, I can hear his inner happenings. And I'm feeling more alive than ever--the energy in my body giving me goosebumps and making my heart beat faster. I'm tick-tocking, tick-tocking, ready to go off and chirp like a cuckoo clock! 

I want, I NEED, to make the most of right now, because this is a rare time. I need to remember these days better than I've ever remembered any before...because this is a time of blessings. This is a time of family and friends and love and laughter and a whole bunch of other 10-dollar words that mean perfect. This is my year, God's telling me, to really pay attention. He's given me the gift of heightened awareness so that I can live this part of my life how it's meant to be lived--unabashedly. I'm gonna put all my touchy-feelers out there and overwhelm my senses. And then I'm gonna put my overflow of excitement back out into the world and share it with those I love. As I said before (only in slightly different words), I'm gonna beat the crap outta this holiday pinata! (Excuse the near-violent outburst again, but...) Will you do the same?

*image from overstock.com