Bah, Humbug!

Welcome to the 2006 Christmas season. Officially, the season starts the day after Thanksgiving but I received my first taste of it yesterday.

Being a typical Sunday, my wife and I attended church (with me going to Sunday school first) and a little socializing afterwards. After saying hello to many people and confirming dinner plans with my wife's boss and his wife next Friday, my wife and I decided to grab a bite to eat at Taco Cabana and then...do some Christmas shopping. Several people on our list like items from World Market, so that is where we headed first.

Shopping at World Market can be a bit frustrating at times since the aisles are narrow and there are so many things to see, however Sunday things were not so bad...pretty good by holiday standards. We managed to get in, shop, and get out in under an hour. After that we headed back north to deposit a check (for the yard work I did for our neighbor) and pick up a few things at the store. It was on the trip to the bank that I had my first real run in with the holiday season...heavy traffic. I had to skirt the main roads and take the secondaries to avoid the horrific line of traffic just north of World Market. Normally when we go shopping, my wife drives, but her van was full of things that needed dropped off to various locations, so we took my 1999 Dakota. More power, harder on gas, but more fun to drive (that is my story and I am sticking to it). We made it to the bank ATM, but it was "closed for service". Then as I was about to drive away, the service was over and I was able to deposit the check. Thank you, God.

Over to the grocery store, we encountered the next part of the holiday season I detest, inconsiderate drivers. more than once we were cut off or had someone run a stop sign or a red light. North Texas is normally bad enough...add 'holiday drivers' to the mix and it gets pretty dangerous.

The grocery store was not too crowded and we were in and out in a reasonable amount of time. All we had to do next was get home and unpack. We made it in one piece and began to unload the truck. While I was unloading, my lovely wife let the dogs out and gave them fresh water.

Once the truck was unloaded and the groceries put away, we began to pack up a care package for our son who is stationed in the Middle East. We did not send a lot of stuff, but we did send an assortment. We tried to figure out what he wanted/needed but his list was pretty short: Peanut Butter Power Bars, a "Learn German" CD (not sure why, he speaks and reads German pretty well). We have not found the CD yet, but we are looking. After that was packed up, my wife packed up gift bags for those who provide services for us and then we cleared up the packing/wrapping debris. We started to do the Christmas cards, but decided we can do that this week (we hope). This week may get busy but I think we can do it.

Why "Bah, Humbug"? I am not against Christmas, well not except the commercialization of it, but I am just frustrated that it has become less of reason/time to celebrate and more of a "seasonal task list" and the list seems to grow (for most) while the time to complete it stays the same. Think about your own regiment at this time of year. Send out Christmas cards, find the 'perfect tree' and set up/decorate it, decorate the house inside and out, buy presents for everyone, make holiday goodies for home and office, attend and host holiday parties, attend holiday presentations...the list goes on. Now if you are like most people, you spend so much time trying to complete this task list, by the time Christmas day arrive, you are so burned out, it takes the entire year to recoup. The pace is frantic and maddening. I think that is why I am a bit "bah, humbug" about this time of year. While I love spending extra time with those I care deeply for, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, drinking cider and egg nog while munching pecan and pumpkin pie, I get kinda bummed out because everything is going at such a frantic pace, it is often hard for me to enjoy it. I guess going out into the throng of people as they are frantically trying to complete their holiday task list just stresses me out too much.

My wife and I have done our best not to go nuts the past few Christmases. We have gone out of town a few times and the times that we have stayed local, we have kept it low key. One year we did not even decorate. I am sure the neighbors had a field day with that one. This year will be somewhere in the middle as we look for a tree this week, begin modest decorations, shop during slower periods (when possible) close to home, and make fewer goodies so my wife and I can try to keep a reign on our health. My wife handles the frenzy much better than I do and she tends to absorb quite a bit of it. I pray that she does not reach critical mass in doing so.

No, I am not against Christmas. CHRIST is the biggest part of Christmas so as long as I focus on that I can handle it.