The Christmas Spirit

I worked at Toys R Us for five years while in school, and I have to tell you, nothing kills your Christmas spirit like carols that begin in November, screaming children and panicked parents who’ve left looking for the ‘it’ toy to the last minute.  For employees of the retail industry, there is nothing calming about the holiday season.  Their shifts get longer and busier, customers get angrier and more rude, and they get a maximum of a day and a half off to recover from the madness before the chaos of ‘gift return’ season begins on the 26th.  All in all, it ain’t fun.  I’m happy that I’m no longer on the paid side of the cash register.

Since then, Christmas has taken on new meaning for me.  Dan and I have been able to host my family a couple of times, be the ones to cook the dinner (mostly Dan), and the ones to stuff the stockings before everyone wakes up in the morning.  I’ve even been able to convince Dan that the decorating of the tree should be done no later than December 1st (my nanny’s rule) and that it must involve singing carols, drinking eggnog and consuming mountains of food (my rule).  I truly adore Christmas and all that comes with it.

And then this year came along.  Always one to have completed shopping before December (mostly to avoid shopping in December), and I’ve hardly bought anything at all yet.  I think a lot of it stems from the other things going on in my life this year that I haven’t had to think about in the past.  The baby and and all things baby-related and of course, finishing up at work (24 days!!) have taken over my brain.

So when Dan asked me when I’d like to decorate this year, and my answer consisted of a shrug and an “I don’t know”, we knew there was a problem.  Other than knowing Christmas falls on December 25th, I haven’t paid attention to much else.  That is until my trip to Hallmark. 

I can’t explain it.  But seeing all the cards, decorations, singing snowmen, santas of all sizes and the red and green everything that has enveloped the store reminded me of what I’d been missing for months: the Christmas spirit.  I purchased a few things for the holiday, but mostly I started to feel some real excitement about the upcoming visit from the man in red.

If Dan thought he had escaped the early decorating that he experienced in seasons past, he may be a bit shocked to find out that I’m already scheming to have the house all lit up by next weekend.  Looks like he’ll be spending some time outside on the ladder.  And I’ve got BIG plans for this year….