Christmas has gotten complicated in Fort Bragg.

Here's how the holiday usually (i.e. for all previous years of my life) breaks down:

-I come home and the Holiday Baking Extravaganza begins. In general, this last from about the 19th to the 24th. Practically every spare moment is spent baking and/or decorating the baked goods. The main attraction is our Sugar Cookie Decoration process, which includes three or four family friends and seven or so hours.

-In the interim, my brother and aunt arrive to fill the empty space within the house, starting with the space underneath the tree. Often, the presents will spill out from their designated area into the rest of the livingroom, exemplifying materialist American stereotypes. (I must take this moment to assure my readers that I am not obsessed with material objects, nor is my family...Have you seen the new Steve Madden heels at Macy's? Righteous.)

-Christmas Eve commences with Family Fun Time (aka a board game, inevitably one that half of the family hates) early in the day.

-Around 2pm, we start cleaning the house in preparation of our annual Christmas Eve party, which begins around 7pm. Friends pile into the house, stop by for a few minutes, eat some of our casually displayed baked goods and then leave again after they've opened their gifts.

-Around 10pm my family opens our gifts, leaving the stockings for Christmas Day.

-We wrap up the holiday with a giant Christmas Day dinner around 3 in the afternoon (which both my aunt and mother insist will be served at noon).

This is how it's worked for the past 21 years of my life. (Granted, things changed a little after I went away to college, seriously compacting our baking time to the aforementioned 5 day interval.) What happened this year?

-I come home to find that my mom has decided to cut the baking in half. This drastic decrease in the size of our produce included a removal of half of the usual batches of sugar cookies. Now, to fully appreciate this, you might have to have been part of one of our decorating parties. We practically remain glued to our seats with thousands of sprinkles, frosting in six colors and about 150 cookies (no exaggeration) that need to be covered in these items. But it doesn't stop here.

-The woman who usually decorates these cookies with us (and has since I was 3) decided to go to Austin for Christmas this year. This is the only explanation I can come up with for the fact that my mom decided we weren't going to decorate the sugar cookies this year. At all. And we were only making 24 to begin with.

-Christmas Eve, I find out, we aren't going to be throwing our usual party. Instead, we're leaving the house around 1pm to see a movie and then go to dinner at a different friend's house.

-My parents decide not to put out half of our holiday decorations and revoke our house's Christmas light priviledge. The only festivity found on my house is a wreath. A bare wreath.

Now, this may seem frivolous, like empty concern, to some. But those who know my family and have seen our Christmas Spirit in action, might be as concerned as I. Just ask Sparky.