I hope you all had/are having a relaxing Christmas Day. This morning it occurred to me that there are some people in our society, mostly mothers, who carry all the load of making the holiday wonderful and memorable for everyone in their family. If it's not sparkly and warm the theory is that the children are going to remember it as the worst Christmas ever for the rest of their lives. It's a huge responsibility.

Often, the menfolk dodge this burden by saying 'bah humbug, I hate Christmas' but there they are eating the cookies and drinking the eggnog along with everyone else, seemingly having a great time, and inquiring as to where is the nutcracker for the mixed nuts in the shells and is there more beer somewhere.

When do the Christmas planners, organizers, gift buyers and wrappers, bed makers, bathroom cleaners, breakfast cookers, big dinner cookers, and overall cleaner uppers get to be pampered and get some rest? Not until Mother's Day, and not necessarily even then.

Here's a big hug.