Holiday Traditions

It's that time of year again.

The Holiday Season.

I enjoy everything about Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love cooking and baking, buying and wrapping gifts, putting up a Christmas tree, and forcing my husband outside in brutal sub-sixty temperatures to put up Christmas lights (shut up, we live in Texas).

I especially love seeing my family. I have the best family in the world. My parents have always been super-awesome, supportive through a variety of self-induced crises, and loving. My brothers are not nearly as annoying now as they were ten years ago and are actually pretty fun to hang out with. I love sitting around with everyone, swapping stories and debating on various religious and political topics (yeah, we do that).

There is only one thing to mar the season.

My mom, bless her heart, firmly believes that neither one of my brothers have the wherewithal to get themselves food. This is despite conclusive evidence to the contrary - namely, that both my brothers have survived for several years on their own and have managed to not starve to death - and my persuasive arguments that they both probably have to find food for themselves at some point every single day.

And yet, every year, as soon as either one of them expresses feeling peckish, my mom will find me, wherever I am, no matter what I am doing, and helpfully suggest that I make them sandwiches.

"Mom," I say, laughing, "I'm right in the middle of this [nap, show, book, drawing, game, mid-afternoon jog], I think they can probably handle it themselves."

"Well, I just don't want them to be hungry," she frets. "Maybe you could just make them a little plate of turkey and dressing?"

"Mom, I'm sure if they are hungry enough, they will pause the football game, get off of the couch, and find something to eat."

"Well, I don't know...."

"Mom, they are both grown-ups. In their twenties. They managed to graduate college. I'm sure they can handle a sandwich."

It goes without saying that I have yet to win this argument and have spent the past several years providing my brothers with snack plates whenever they feel like it. For two weeks out of the year, they live like kings, ordering up whatever strikes their fancy and getting it delivered straight to the couch.

I'll bet they look forward to the holidays even more than I do.