{"id":75564,"date":"2018-12-20T15:25:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T21:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/?p=75564"},"modified":"2023-05-31T18:13:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T23:13:19","slug":"that-first-whiff-of-winter-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/that-first-whiff-of-winter-air\/","title":{"rendered":"That Holiday Feeling"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=&#8221;119794&#8243;]By: Jeremy Balkin<\/p>\n<h2>The Holidays are Here<\/h2>\n<p>You made it! Halloween is over! Thanksgiving is over too! The holiday season trifecta of affliction is almost complete! You just have one more challenge to conquer: December. Whether this means Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or something else, December is both the most joyous time and the most annoyous (Google tells me annoyous is actually a word, and it\u2019s hard to find a rhyme for joyous). If you\u2019re like me (and there\u2019s a pretty good chance you\u2019re not, let\u2019s be honest) the winter holidays come with brand new stressors. What do my family and friends want as gifts? What is my budget this year? Do I even have friends?<\/p>\n<p>However, unlike the earlier difficult holidays, this one affords the ability to do so in colder weather. Hear me out. This likely only applies to people in warmer climates (like me in Houston). However, once I feel that first whiff of cool winter air, I\u2019m more at ease. I am sure that someone in Northern Canada is reading this right now and fuming, but my more general point remains.<\/p>\n<p>The winter holidays, for me, seem like the only time of year when everything feels different. When I feel that cool air, I also sense the nostalgia of winters past. I think of all the Christmas movies I used to watch as a kid. I think of how I used to have weeks off of school. Of family trips I would go on. Of trying to get my Christmas cheer on by osmosis. Since I\u2019m not Christian, I would absorb the spirit cumulatively. I\u2019d hang around Christian friends and walk the streets counting the number of Christmas trees I could find (I actually did this).<\/p>\n<h2>Growing up Jewish<\/h2>\n<p>I grew up <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/category\/ancestry\/jewish-ancestry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jewish<\/a>, and Hanukkah was fun too. It definitely had perks. From the 8 days of celebrations, to progressively lighting more candles each night. It didn\u2019t have special trees though, and those are still my favorite.<\/p>\n<p>That First Whiff of Winter Air<br \/>\nAs an adult, the only tangible perk the winter holidays provide is maybe one extra day off work. That\u2019s why that first whiff of cool air (for me) is so important. The holidays aren\u2019t, and shouldn\u2019t be, just about tangible stuff. (This is coming from someone addicted to his computer and television.) This should permeate all the way to work. I love coming to the office this time of year. As a customer service agent, I get to talk with people from all over. Though I\u2019m not technically giving anything to them (well I am selling our tests at our unbelievable holiday discounts), I am indirectly experiencing this time of the year around the world.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve even had customers send me holiday cards and greetings. As a kid I was only used to only celebrating Hanukkah and the aforementioned \u2018count the Christmas trees\u2019 game. So, receiving these kind of help make me feel like a citizen of the world. Heck, I even like trying to get customers their kits in time for Christmas. Even if that means bothering our Shipping Department to rush a shipment. Or making someone ship something FedEx even if it\u2019s already been picked up at our office for the day.<\/p>\n<p>The saddest part of year for me is the day after New Year\u2019s Day. The holidays are over. There\u2019s now a ton of work to be done at the office. And, since I\u2019m in Texas, the summer heat already started 5 days ago.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][vc_single_image media=&#8221;78187&#8243; media_width_percent=&#8221;100&#8243; media_ratio=&#8221;one-one&#8221; shape=&#8221;img-circle&#8221; uncode_shortcode_id=&#8221;141099&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243;][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=&#8221;929732&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<h3>Jeremy Balkin<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Customer Service Manager<\/strong><br \/>\nJeremy\u2019s bio is super interesting, but he can write it better than we can.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Winter holidays, for me, seem like the only time of year when everything feels different. When I feel that cool air, I also sense the nostalgia of winters past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":78530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[562],"tags":[1234],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.2 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>That Holiday Feeling - FamilyTreeDNA Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Winter holidays, for me, seem like the only time of year when everything feels different. 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