I LOVE the holidays. I can’t wait for all the wonderful christmass-y things to come. Ooh! I get to decorate my house for the first time! We’ll get our first full sized tree!
I’m also looking forward to all the events. We always go to the Christmas choir concert at the ole alma matter, we’ll see the Christmas themed show at the local theater, and I’m sure there will be a party or two.
Then there’s the little things. The egg nog latte in a festive red cup, watching A Chistmas Story whenever I get the opportnity, and the music, of course. I love Christmas music. (Just the standards, though. I hate those shmarmy original ballads that all artists feel compelled to include on their Christmas CDs)
This season though, I’m feeling a little icky about the present part. I feel SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED already, and I don’t need any more stuff. And while it’s really fun to buy things for some people, I’m just feeling crappy about the obligation of it all. And stressed out about money! Under normal circumstances I have plenty of guilt about spending money, but now I’m unemployed! Gah! It is so NOT in the spirit of the season to guiltily purchase an obliation gift.
I wish I could have all the family togetherness, all the tradition and ritual and festive-ness, but no presents. What would be really cool is if we could all contribute half of the money we would have over spent on presents and buy someone in southeast asia a cow.
SB’s with me, and so is my mom, actually. I don’t think we could ever convince the others, though. Am I utterly lame? It’s sort of wierd to be all gung ho about everything Christmas except the presents, I guess.
I love Heifer.org. A couple of years ago, I started doing this with my family and this year, my dad was so disappointed when he didn’t get a sheep. (I got him a headlamp; don’t ask, it’s a bit of a family joke) But, this next Christmas, it will be back to charitable gifts rather than presents. My nieces still get a book and a game/toy from me along with the bees, chicks or rabbits (they get really confused, it’s pretty funny!).