There I was pampering and nurturing Thanksgiving along when something tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and there staring me right in the face was Christmas. “I’m not ready for you yet,” I exclaimed.<\/p>\n
“Sorry hon. I’m here and the pressure’s on!” it replied.<\/p>\n
Oh great, I thought to myself, no time to take a break. I just have to dive in to this craziness we call Christmas.<\/p>\n
If you couldn’t tell I’m feeling a little “bah humbugish” about Christmas this year. I’m not really sure why, normally I love the holiday season, but not this year. In fact, I was going to write a post on all of the reasons why I thought Christmas has turned into a horrible, greedy, nasty holiday. I started to write the post and realized how awful and negative it sounded. It was the last thing I thought I needed so I decided to spin it 180 degrees. .<\/p>\n
The first thing that made me grumpy about Christmas this year was seeing a newscast about people beating each other up while trying to get the best deals on “Black Friday”. Honestly it’s a little bit hard to put a positive light on this but I think I may have come up with something. While watching the newscasts about these kinds of things everyone gets to feel a little bit smug and superior because they weren’t involved. So there you go, a few minutes of feeling pretty darn good about yourself, who cares if it’s at the expense of others!<\/p>\n
You have to admit it’s a little entertaining in the same fashion that watching Jerry Springer in extreme moderation (my personal limit is about 30 seconds) can be. You could also say that a lot of crowds on “Black Friday” mean good things for the economy. <\/p>\n
The second thing that made me grumpy about Christmas this year was my neighbor down the street putting Christmas lights in every square inch of his yard. I guess I was feeling pressure to keep up with the joneses and feeling stressed out about it. I hate hanging Christmas lights! There is some good to come out of this too. My neighbor is a pretty grumpy guy and anything that makes him come out of his shell even for a little bit is a good thing. <\/p>\n
He also has a big light up snowman in his yard that is holding a can of Bud Light. I thought this might provide some good entertainment for my family and me when we stealthily replace it with a 7-up can. I’m anticipating that we will have to undertake this several times throughout the holiday season.<\/p>\n
On to the millions of people to buy presents for and the huge Christmas lists presented to Santa by the children of the world (or maybe just America). This wasn’t too hard to put in a positive light. While keeping the gifts modest my family gets an opportunity to think of our loved ones while looking for or making just the right present for them.<\/p>\n
My husband and I can take any excessive lists given to us by our children and use them as teaching opportunities. Helping our children pair down the lists (severely) will help teach them to be less greedy in life (I hope).<\/p>\n
There is my Christmas pep talk. I think it worked a little bit. Now I must convince myself that hanging Christmas lights can be joyful. Oh I know, it’ll be good exercise! <\/p>\n
If you have any traditions or stories you would like to share to help me feel a little jollier please do!
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