Christmas Already?

I love Christmas time. More accurately I love all the parties with friends and family that the holiday brings. I don’t typically love the stress to find the perfect gift, to get all the decorations up (although I love the decorations), and what I really don’t love is the extreme commercialism that goes along with Christmas.

It used to be that the day after Thanksgiving was the mark of the beginning of the Christmas season. That’s when all the decorations came out. That’s when all the commercials started (well, at least a day or two before that). That’s the day that the Christmas musak started in our stores.

Not anymore. Now, it’s the norm to see Christmas items up before they’ve even clearanced the Halloween stuff. And I just saw my first Christmas commercial on t.v.
Now granted, Chuck and I already have most of our Christmas shopping done. The boys and E just have one gift left that we need to purchase and we’ve completed ½ of his family. I’ve been setting aside money in order to pay for Christmas presents and be done early this year to help decrease our stress nearer the holidays. We’ve also already put up our Christmas lights outside since it was such a beautiful weekend, we took down the Halloween lights and put up our Christmas lights so that the weekend after Thanksgiving we don’t freeze off our hands trying to put up lights in the snow.


BUT, to have it all shoved down your throat at every turn is getting a little ridiculous. It’s also reinforcing the misconception that Christmas is all about finding the “perfect” gift. Whatever happened to family and the real reason for the season? Ugh.


At least my kids are still at the age of innocence. When it’s all fun and about Santa and being good so Santa will come. They also understand that this is a time to celebrate Jesus’ birthday and a time to celebrate with family. Zachary and Lucas have always been really good about appreciating the gifts that they receive, too. Which makes me feel better about getting them things they’ll love during this time of the year. Another thing that's cute about this year in particular is Chuck's excitement for clothing. Not his. Elizabeth's. He picked out her Christmas dress today and asked if we could put her in it when we got home so he could see what she looked like. We did. He giggled. A father's love.


A picture of 2 of my adorable kids for your enjoyment.



Blog-check, Water-Only 3/8, Exercise-soon to be completed. As soon as I can get Chuck into the bedroom.