December 06, 2000
Holiday Spirit
Don't hate me, but I've finished my Christmas shopping. I can't quite believe it either. Last year, I bought my family's gifts on December 24th, and wrapped them in my car on the way to the family gathering. It was pretty pathetic. I never ever want to do that again. Of course, I was quite the Scrooge last year too. I was heard to say "Bah, humbug!" many times. I'm surprised Jacob Marley didn't show up at the trailer.
In short, I didn't get into the Christmas spirit at all until Christmas Eve. It upset me. After last year's pretty miserable Thanksgiving, I was afraid the family wouldn't want to celebrate Christmas at all. We did, but it was remarkably subdued. I have higher hopes for this year.
For one thing, I'm no longer suffering from the loneliness of my nine months of self-imposed exile to Romulus (which is about half an hour's drive from anything I care about). Don't get me wrong. I needed that time. It was a very very good thing for me, but it was very lonely at times. I learned that I can, in fact, survive loneliness. I learned a lot about emotional self-sufficiency, which was exactly what I needed.
Financially speaking, I'm in much better shape -- yes, due in a large part to last week's move. Being poor is rotten no matter what time of year, but it's thousands of times worse around Christmas time. That was part of the reason I put off last year's Christmas shopping. Not that I'm precisely Miss Moneybags this year, but it was nice to be able to actually do Christmas shopping. It was especially nice, as I did all of my Christmas shopping online this year. Hooray for the internet!
And, believe it or not, the media blitz that always comes up around Christmas time also helps. Last year I kept complaining that it didn't feel like Christmas at all, and that's partly because I was so cut off from most of the media, other than the internet. Not that that's a bad thing, of course, but it's easier to feel Christmas-y if you're always seeing commercials about Christmas type things. Plus I got to watch part of "It's a Wonderful Life" on Thanksgiving.
And the office is even decorated. Next thing you know, I'll be listening to Christmas music. Now that I think about it, I did get some Christmas CDs last year, hrm...
Posted by Lisa at December 6, 2000 01:12 PM
