Christmas

It is only the first of October and I am already stressed about Christmas. I blame Costco for this stress because they decided to pull out their Christmas decorations in late August. I kid you not! I know stores are expecting a flat season, so they are all trying to get a jump start on sales. This is just a little mind game Costco is playing with me and they have won.

So thanks Costco, thank you for the gentle reminder that I have absolutley no clue what to buy anyone for Christmas this year. Under normal circumstances, Halloween stuff would be out in stores right now and I would begin to think about Christmas. I would start a little list of the people we buy gifts for and jot down ideas as they came to mind. I would pick up a things here and there as I came across things I thought would make a good gift. I like to have time to think about it. To collect things so that once December rolls around I only have a few last-minute things to pick up. I hate, hate, hate last-minute shopping because it typically leads to buying crap that people don't really care about anyway.

I'm sure I will figure it all out, but I just hate the pressure I feel when I walk into a store with Christmas stuff on display. (Costco isn't the only store doing this) I don't have panic attacks, but when I begin to think about Christmas I think I am on the verge of one. I think my blood pressure has shot through the roof right now just blogging about it!

Last year, about this time, Mom and I had this great idea that our family would just draw names. We would think of a great gift for ONE person and all exchange on Christmas. And of course we would all probably buy Ellie (my niece) gifts but that wouldn't be difficult because she is a baby. Anyway, of course that idea was squashed quickly by my sister and my Dad. (Really? My dad of all people .... shocked me a little). I don't think Ben or Dave (brother in law) were in favor of the idea either. We ended up doing the full gift Christmas and it worked out fine.

Mom and I had this conversation again yesterday. And I think that it probably won't fly with the rest of my family once again. So I will remain stressed, I imagine until December 25.

I think I wrote about this last year too. And I swear I'm not a Grinch. Its just that in our house, all the pressure falls to me to think of, buy, and wrap gifts and it is a tremendous responsibility. I don't say that to bash Ben - he really is thoughtful and creative but usually only after about December 15. So that just doesn't work for me and I end up doing it all myself. My mother tells me to just let him handle portions of it himself and not to worry about the timeline, etc. But I do because I am a control freak. Then again, even if I did do that I still have my part of the family to think of ideas for so it wouldn't totally solve my problem. So I guess its my own fault for being stressed because if I were a little tiny bit more relaxed I probably wouldn't have these problems.

Geez, that was a very rambly and introspective post, huh?