It's Not Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

I've decorated the house, wrapped the presents, burned/burning all the candles, kept the tree lit nonstop since I put it up, played/playing Christmas music, gone to parties, participated in gift exchanges--and I'm still not feeling it.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all those things, but there's something missing this time around.  The overwhelming joy, the sense of anticipation of Christmas day itself--where are they?  It's 3 days before Christmas and it may as well be February.

Is it because this is my first Christmas as an empty-nester?

I should find out today if my son gets to come home on leave for Christmas.  If he doesn't, I'm packing up the car and heading up to Washington to see him over the coming weekend.

Update:  Got a text from my son a little while ago that he's been assigned to a rapid deployment unit, one that needs to be ready on very short notice to deploy if they're needed.  As such he won't be coming home for leave this week.

I'm all excited now, as I have something to look forward to--I'll leave here Thursday morning and get to Washington on Friday evening so he and I can spend the weekend together.

For those of you who have no experience with the military, this is just one of the myriad sacrifices that soldiers and their families make in service to the nation.