Tis the Season

I love the Christmas music and decorating. I find the season to be jolly and warm. Giving gifts is a joy to me. Of course, receiving them is quite nice too. My childhood memories of Christmas are wonderful. My mother always went the extra mile to make it magical for me and my brothers. The tree is up and all the seasonal decor has been displayed. I love coming home from work and plugging the tree in. It's beautiful. I can't wait to have kids to share in their joy of Christmas.

I believe that the spirit of Christmas is a simple one. The difficulty comes in when we all try to complicate it with excessive buying. I feel as if my husband has bought me too much. At the same time I feel that I'm straining myself to buy more and more for him. If we were filthy rich it might be easier monetarily. However I doubt the stress over going shopping would be any less if a person has go out into the circus of the mall, Kmart or Walmart. I actually find it torturous for several reasons. When I am in a crowded environment where I can not find what I'm looking for it seems as though both my head and body begin to ache. It's really horrible. Ax has made some reasonable Christmas requests that should be easy enough to meet. Oh but NO. Outside of driving a 30 minute distance to the mall, the local Kmart and Walmart that would normally have what I want, are coming up short. Very short. It's made me fall in love with internet shopping. It's heaven to just click, click, click and get what I want at my doorstep. My only gripe is shipping charges, although prices are usually reduced to help cushion the blow. I keenly realize that the relief and my sanity are worth it.
I hope to discuss my desire to return to a more simple Christmas with Ax before the season begins next year. It's seems to humbug and scrooge-like to say anything now. Maybe next year we can both set some limits. And who knows, maybe by then we'll have another little member of our family on the way to encourage us to act differently.