Holidays, weather and other thoughts

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. Period. It's perfect traveling weather, the kids are out of school and you get fireworks to signal the day's end. It doesn't get much better than that. We usually try to get all the family together for the Fourth

. Airfares are not sky high, little worry about some random storm stranding anyone at the airport. There's red, white and blue everything -- a T-shirt is perfectly acceptable attire along with flip-flops and maybe a swimsuit underneath. I could go on forever, it's the perfect celebration of our country and our future. Halloween is my second-favorite holiday. It's fantasy, dress-up, and you get candy. My least favorite holiday ---- is Christmas. I go all out usually with decorations and gifts. But there's never enough to get everyone everything they want or need. Then there's all the sad stories and the feeling of isolation for those folks who can't be with family -- or don't have family with whom to spend the holiday. Weather can strand people, destroy holiday plans and wreck havoc. Then there's the political diatribes and hatred in this "season of joy and peace" that invades the airwaves and social networks. If you call this a "holiday" to be all-inclusive, you're somehow less than what you should be -- and if you dare believe the holiday is about the birth of Christ, the haters on the other side throw venom and look down at you smugly because their superior brains have overcome this ancient superstition that you still believe in. And, that is why Christmas is my least favorite holiday. I'm thinking about all this because it's almost October 1, and that means the greedy stores are lining the shelves with everything Christmas. If you want to get a new swimsuit while temperatures (in Texas anyway) are still in the 90s, forget about it. You have to wade through racks of coats, sweaters and plaid before you can find one-half of a two-piece suit on the clearance rack. So, I'm thinking about starting a new holiday. One in early October or maybe April (after Easter.) I would call it Everything Day. That's the day we celebrate everything or anything we want. No rules - you can stuff a turkey if you want or grill some burgers. You can wear anything you want. Put up a tree if you want, or shoot off some fireworks. It's just a day to celebrate life, your life and things that make you happy. Hmmmm. Maybe we should call it Happy Day. I'm forming an exploratory committee...