My Christmas Rant

[bunchofgrapes]

I am officially on vacation. Well, sort of officially. I'm still checking email and approving a few things but I did the last of the actual work on Saturday. I'm off until Monday and then it will be time to do end of the month reporting.

It will also be time when those gods with an evil sense of humor put the clock on ramming speed and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is practically non-existant. Have you noticed it too? I always think I have a bit of a leg up on Christmas and then Thanksgiving is over, I blink, and it's a week before Christmas and I'm wondering what the hell happened. This is why I hate Christmas. I hate the rush. I want to be able to slow down time. Maybe even stop it for a couple of days. I want to enjoy the season and bake breads and shop in the cold (sorry, but I can never live in a place where it's above 60 degrees for Christmas) for the perfect gift and wrap presents while watching "Miracle on 34th Street". Instead I'm baking breads in the evening after work, racing to the nearest drug store for gift cards to send to my parents in OK, cursing the warming trend in December, and doing a craptastic wrapping job in the small back bedroom.

Last year I went to the Christmas service with my VA parents (I should start referring to them as rents #1) at their church. I don't attend their church, or any church, but I go because it's family and usually the service is nice. Last year they invited a tenor, Carl Tanner, to sing and it was extraordinary. I mean, I was moved in a way that sort of redeemed Christmas for me. Unfortunately, it was a one-time event and buying a CD just doesn't replicate hearing a performance from a few feet away. But maybe going to dinner downtown with friends, seeing DC all decked out for Christmas and cleaned up for the impending chaos inauguration will do it.

I hope so. Because I really want to like Christmas.

Comments

[tos-lover.livejournal.com]

sorry, but I can never live in a place where it's above 60 degrees for Christmas

Go ahead, rub it in! But that statement pretty much encapsulates my need to live on the eastern seaboard.
But your deal about Christmas is pretty much my deal about Christmas. I absolutely love the season, but the thing that just really turns me off is the consumerism of it all. All this build up for one day??? Rushing about making sure I've got everything is no fun at all. Over the past five years or so we've made a conscious effort to enjoy each day leading up to Xmas Day. We have the tradition of having a day where we hike up a hill and kill a tree to bring it home and cover it in stomach-turning ornaments; a day of taking the train up to the City and looking at the kittens and cats in the Macy's window and having a nice lunch out; A day where the kids are stuck with a sitter and we get to enjoy some Xmas shopping at a leisurely pace. That's the kind of stuff I enjoy wayyyy more than the actual day, because call me humbug, but the day of xmas pretty much blows. And then it's all over and that's just depressing.
So yeah, I'm with you in that I just want it all to slow down and get back to enjoying the season, not making sure I've got the latest bullshit gadgets for everyone. And the pathetically sad thing about me? I make notes every year about what went right and what went wrong, like the cards...I can never, ever get cards out on time because I always feel like I have an obligation to write a book in each one. So this year I ordered them pre-signed. So all I have to do is add a few kisses and a photo.

Right there with you..

[unwrittenkitten.livejournal.com]

Its this time of year, that I always wonder why I wait until now to get things done for the 'big day'. Every year, I always tell myself Im going to get all the shopping, and necessities out of the way in September, or October. So all that's left to do in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day, are the things I enjoy doing. Baking, wrapping, that sort of thing.

Another year? *grins*

[insanityonline1.livejournal.com]

Yay for you being on vacation!

And yeah, the rush at Christmas is crazy. I totally am with you there.

I hope you enjoy Christmas this year. I love CHristmas.