I love Christmas. It is hands down my favorite time of the year. I love the lights, the smells of baking and pine needles. The nip in the air, the frost on the ground, shiny Christmas ornaments, bells ringing, the whole nine yards. The christmas tree has been up since 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. The presents are all purchased and under the tree. The Christmas music is in my cd player. Christmas cards have been sent complete with Christmas stamps.
That being said, I don't feel it this year. I feel stressed and hectic and downright Grinch like. There are so many things going on and more stuff is popping up every day. They decided today at work that we need to have a potuck lunch to celebrate Christmas and planned it for this Thursday. 3 days from today so I need to make something for that. Then there is the Christmas Party for volunteers at church on Friday that I got the invitation to last week. For the church Christmas party I need to come up with 2 white elephant gifts. Then Saturday I have a baby shower for the same neighbor that did the cookie exchange last weekend so I need a gift for that. We were invited to an informal Christmas Party at one of my co-worker's houses Saturday night complete with another white elephant gift exchange. I declined that invitation. Then next week I need to get together all the Christmas gifts for Bear's teachers. I am making goodies for them. We are also adopting elderly people at a local nursing home through my work so I need to pick up gifts for that.
One thing that annoys me about the holidays is white elephant gift exchanges. I don't understand the point of bringing your junk you don't want to trade for other people's junk you don't want. Last year my husband ended up with a tuxedo thong and junk from someone's junk drawer at a white elephant gift exchange. I understand doing a little something but I would prefer a small real gift exchange or an ornament exchange.
I also wanted to adopt an angel from one of the angel trees around town. This is something I try to do each year. I like picking out a Barbie doll, clothes, toys and such for a child in need in our local area. But I've noticed something over the past few of years of doing this. The requested gifts for the kids are moving out of my price range. They deserve to have a wonderful and special Christmas but I have a hard time looking at requests that include laptops, Playstation IIs, Xboxs, etc. Every gift request I looked at was outside of the price range I would spend on any member of my family including my own child. So I ended up deciding to adopt an elderly person instead. Their lists include items like sneakers, pajamas, nail clippers, sweat pants, etc. Then I can buy them an assortment of items that they need and I feel they will appreciate it. Perhaps this is rude of me and maybe I am being a little judgemental but apparently my version of needy is a little different than other peoples. Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks this though because I found a news article saying the same thing.
I need to snap out of my Grinch like mood and get more into the holiday spirit. I think I need a reminder of what the season is really about. It seems to be lost in the shuffle of parties, presents, and decorations. We went last week to see the presentation called the Star of Bethlehem. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it as a way to refocus on what theChristmas season is really about. I think I will take some time tonight to visit with my bible and read the story of Christ's birth (Luke 2:1-21).
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The season can fly by since we're so busy. I hope you can slow down and breathe it in. All the nice things you're doing (although tedious) are incredible. And I'm quite impressed by you.
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