Hey Readers,
I have some news to share with you…watch below….
See you soon!
-<3-
Holidays
Welcome Home.
Hey guys, it’s that time again…I’ve been toying around with this first bit of a new short story series for a while. I like how it’s shaping up. This new story series will probably send us into the new year, and long after. #AlwaysRambling. I hope you will join in and read along!
Meet Melanie…
Melanie stares at her reflection in an airport bathroom. Her crystal blue eyes stare back at her.
She fluffs her hair and reaches into her purse for her lip gloss, as she applies some of her favorite very berry with just a hint of pink, and is instantly hit with a feeling of déjà vu.
Time freezes and she thinks of him. As she often does.
There she stands in front of her vanity applying her lipstick as she feels him watching her from the doorway of their bedroom.
Turning with a smile, she says, “What are you looking at?”
He smirks, “Everything,” he says casually leaning against the wooden door molding.
“Yea? And…do you like what you see?” she says showing off her outfit.
He smiles and walks over to her, taking her hand he spins her around, as his eyes glance over her full ensemble.
“You. Look. Sexy as hell,” he smiles pulling her to him and kissing her.
She smiles against his lips as she cups his face, her diamond ring sparkling as it sits on her left hand.
Melanie is brought back to reality as a stranger sets off the hand dryer nearby.
She shakes off the memory as she looks at her now empty ring finger.
She looks at herself in the mirror once more.
You can do this, she thinks to herself.
Melanie wipes a tear from her eye, as her cell phone begins to ring.
Grabbing her plaid suitcase and purse, she strolls into the airport lobby, answering her phone.
“Hey mom.”
“Sweetheart! Did you land yet?”
“Yes. Just now actually, I am just about to head out and grab a cab.”
“Oh honey I’m so sorry we couldn’t meet you, there’s just so much prep to do, we have the whole family coming early tomorrow morning.”
“Mom it’s really ok. I understand. It’s no big deal. I will see you soon.”
“Ok honey! Oh I am so excited to see you!”
“Me too. Love you, see you in a bit,” Melanie says with a smile.
“Love you, bye.”
Melanie hangs up and heads toward the exit. Stepping toward the end of the curb, she raises her hand to hail a cab. The fall chill nipping at her nose.
********************************************************************************
“Thank you,” Melanie says to her cab driver as he unloads her suitcase for her.
She looks up at her childhood home, and instantly her heart is full.
She smiles at the festive decorations of hay stacks, pumpkins, scarecrows and twinkling lanterns that line the pathway to the door which is dressed in a sunflower wreath. Orange, yellow, red and green flood her eyes as she blinks to feel more grounded.
It’s been a while.
She reaches for the door knob, the cold gold feeling strange yet familiar at the same time. And turning it, she peers in. Her nostrils instantly flooded with her mom’s famous sweet potato pie and cranberry stuffing.
“Hello?” She says wheeling her suitcase in as her low heeled booties click and clack over the hard cherry wood floor.
She hears some clinking and banging in the kitchen and then is met by her mother’s streaks and open arms.
“Melanie!!!! Oh my word. You look fantastic,” she says hugging her daughter tightly.
“Hey Mom,” she says smiling.
“Is that my Mel belle that just walked in?” her dad says walking in the front door in his work clothes and rushing to hug her too.
Melanie smiles as she hugs her parents.
“It’s good to be home,” she says finally feeling an inner peace.
********************************************************************************
“Mom can I help you with anything?” she asks as she settles in on a chair at the island across from where her mother works on mixing up some cornbread batter.
“You could get started on the sticky buns?” she says with a smile.
Melanie smiles back with wide eyes.
“Sure,” she says standing and heading to the fridge.
“You remember how to make them?” her mom says peering over the edges of her red rimmed eyeglasses.
“You put them in the oven, let them rise, add some honey and brown sugar and then get to starting on the glaze.”
“And…” her mom says with a questioning smile.
“Add a little extra cinnamon for a lot of extra love, How could I ever forget?” she says as her mom smiles at her.
*********************************************************************************
Melanie sits in front of the fireplace. Her eyes glazing over as she watches the flames flicker away.
An image flashes in her mind of him. Them. On that very same couch. He leans over.
“So…are we actually alone in this big old house?”
“I think so,” she says looking over at him her eyes smiling with a sparkle.
He smirks, and leans over to her, kissing her. As he leans into her, the kisses intensify as he switches them to a laying down position, him above her gazing down into her eyes.
“Promise me something?” he says tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Anything,” She says gazing back her hands wrapped around his waist.
“Promise you’ll never leave me.”
“Never,” she says reaching up and cupping his neck, pulling him into a kiss.
“Good, because I don’t think I can handle that.”
She smiles, her heart bursting as they kiss into the night, their clothes disguarded piece by piece.
Melanie looks around her living room, it’s emptier now.
She shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
She sighs, her heart heavy.
You can do this, she thinks.
Her eyes begin to well up.
“Honey?”
Melanie looks up to find her mother looking at her with concern.
“Melanie, what’s wrong? Or do I even have to ask?”
Melanie smiles simply as she brushes a single tear off her cheek with her cream colored oversized sweater sleeve.
“If we’re going to do this…I’m going to need a little liquid courage.”
“I have some Thanksgiving Day punch, shall we sneak a little in tonight?”
“Yes please,” she says smiling faintly.
********************************************************************************
“So…have you seen him?” Melanie asks looking over the brim of her glass as she throws back a giant gulp of Thanksgiving Day punch.
“I have,” her mother says carefully, calmly.
“How is he?” Melanie inquires caught between wanting to know and not wanting to know but having to ask anyway no matter what the truth may be.
“He seems good.”
“Good. I’m glad. I want him to be good.”
“He asked about you.”
Melanie sighs looking away.
“Did you tell him I was coming home for the holidays?”
“Did you want me to?”
“No. I mean I don’t know. Town like ours, I’m sure I’m bound to run into him anyway so…”
“He knows. He guessed.”
“Ah,” she says her eyebrows raising.
“He always had a way of knowing you better than anybody…”
“Except you.” She says smiling at her mom.
“Well yes, mother knows best.” She smiles.
“I know I see him every few years. You’d think it’d get easier. But it hasn’t, it just gets harder. I don’t know what to say, or what to do. He deserves so much better than I could ever give him.”
“Honey, I don’t think there is any resentment there. Not anymore. Time does heal.”
“Not all wounds.”
“Maybe not yours. But he seems very much ok. Moved on even.”
Melanie ponders, her eyes watering, and her mind racing as she looks back at the fire, the flames crackling and glistening in the night. She takes another sip of her punch as she stares off into space.
Her mother watching on with a sad heart.
**********************
Who’s this mystery man, that lurks through Melanie’s thoughts?
To be continued…
-<3-
Have the holidays become too stressful?
The holiday season is in full gear. As we have already passed Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Christmas is just around the corner. And I have to say that I’m still slightly in disbelief at how quickly its come, yet again.
As I get older, I’ve realized something. Time speeds by, each year it gets quicker and quicker. Everything becomes stressful and timed, and we make it more commercial then spiritual and magical like it should be.
I remember when I was a kid, I used to get so excited when Christmas was near. It was my favorite time of year. I remember decorating the tree with my family and playing Christmas songs as early as October, sometimes even in the summer time because I was just so infatuated.
Now it seems as though no one has time for anything anymore. No time to decorate, or shop, or be festive. Everything is like warp speed and before we even get to Thanksgiving they are already shoving Christmas down our throats. Stores commercialize everything and call it Christmas spirit. Would you let me catch my breath, you’re suffocating me. And sadly that notion has caused me to grin and bear the holidays, because well I’m just not ready for them, and they don’t allow each holiday it’s time to be enjoyed.
I miss the beauty in the holiday season. I miss the excitement and the happiness. I’ve definitely lost that over the past few years, I wanna say as far back as college. First it was school stress, reports and projects and papers due right before Christmas, and now it’s well… life. Work, Internships, everyday life. Trying to balance being festive with your daily duties can be a recipe for disaster, because truly there are not enough hours in a day.
There is so much pressure put on the holidays. Pressure to pick out the perfect gifts, pressure to travel to visit family, pressure to decorate and create a festive wonderland, pressure to cram all your holiday cheer into your already stressful life. A time that is supposed to be simply about love, faith, and family, is burdened by stress.
And if you’re like me and have high expectations, you get disappointed when you feel like your holiday was a sham. Or not as magical as you hoped it would be. I hate when the holiday doesn’t feel like a holiday. Take Thanksgiving, I love Thanksgiving. Since I feel Christmas has become bigger than all of us, Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. But this year was kind of hectic and stressful and I felt like I didn’t enjoy it as much as last year. Sure I saw my family, and we ate a bunch of delicious food, and it was nice. I just felt rushed all day. Between helping to get food prepared the night before, and then baking til 2 in the morning, I was exhausted the morning of Thanksgiving. Then we did double rounds to visit both sides of my family and that always takes a toll even though you get to see more people, you feel like you’re on a clock all day. That feeling of rushing immediately peaks my anxiety level and stresses me out, messing with the festivity of the holiday and what it’s really about.
At the end of the day, it’s a day that goes by just like every other. I see family and eat great food, and make memories. And it’s another holiday under the belt. But I have become saddened by the lack of enthusiasm I have for the holidays for the past years. And the people around me have spoken of similar attitudes and feelings. Everyone is so tired and stressed on a regular basis that add in the holidays and all the extra work you have to do, and it’s like complete chaos.
This world is too fast paced. Everything is rushed. Nothing is treasured. This is why the new generation has such a hard time living in the moment, myself included.
It’s a little late for Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I’d like to restore the Christmas spirit at least in my house. I want to slow things down and enjoy the festive feelings around me. I want to enjoy Christmas music, and Christmas movies. I want to decorate as a family, without having to wait forever for all of us to get on the same page. I want shopping to be easy and not so materialistic. When I was a kid, I was taught you get what you get and you’re grateful. Kids these days have so much to choose from that they barely know what to ask for. And their more expectant of materialistic items. It’s certainly a different generation, then I grew up in.
I want to visit the Christmas lights in the neighborhood, drink hot chocolate, and festive flavored teas and coffees, visit the tree in Rockefeller center. And every year I say these things and, I’m lucky if I get to do one or two things. Time becomes no one’s friend.
This Christmas I want things to change. Here’s hoping I can pull a Hallmark Movie and lessen up the Grinch factor in my life.
So…do you find the holiday stress gets in the way of celebrating?
-<3-
*I do not take credit for the image used.*
Michelle Leigh Writes 