Not in the Mood for Christmas…Yet

It’s the holiday season, and I’m not in the mood for shopping yet. Have you been there before? It seems like with the weather being so nice that Christmas shouldn’t be here yet. And yet it is just around the corner.

How does one shop when they aren’t in the mood to shop? I like to buy presents that I know the person will enjoy that I hand picked out for them. The present may have been requested by them, but I picked it out.

Gradually, I’ve been working up to get into the mood to shop. First I created my Christmas list…barely. If you haven’t been thinking about what you want or need, it is very difficult to make a Christmas list. I’ve been too busy with projects to think of what I want.

Then I requested a list from my parents. Only one parent has complied thus far. And for the record trying to get Christmas lists from people this year has been tough, so it must be in the air.

I’ve put the lists I have into a password protected app on my iPhone, and started doing research. The first two items I looked up cost around $3,000. There’s no way I’m paying that much for a present. I doubt that the people who requested those presents knew that they cost that much otherwise they wouldn’t have been requested. My first two attempts at finding presents failed. <Sigh> I took a break. The motto is the older the kid (my parents and boyfriend are kids at heart); the more expensive the present.

And then with a clearer head, I searched for some more presents. I’ve done research on presents, and everything. Lunch at work is my research facility; since no one I’m buying for can see what I am researching. The Christmas shopping ball is rolling. Will everyone get what they want…no, but I hope they like what they get.

As for the Christmas spirit…I don’t have it yet. I’m simply going through the motions. I’m trying to get in it by playing Christmas music, but the weather needs to change. For example, maybe we could have a nice flurry of snow or something. Snow is what really gets me in the mood. I think a lot of people are this way. For the record I don’t want a lot of snow; just enough to get into the spirit.

I always seem to get into the Christmas mood at some point. Last year it was on Thanksgiving as I was pouring through the ads and seeing awesome deals left and right. This year, I have no idea when it will happen. It may be as late as Christmas Eve when family walks through the door with smiling faces and stories to tell from the year or years past.

But I bet it happens as soon as I walk through my parents’ front door and see all of the Christmas decorations that they have put out. It basically looks like Christmas threw up in my parents’ house. Christmas is every where…no room or nook and cranny is exempt. This is a good thing because it even makes boyfriend smile as he cracks a joke. My mother’s tree always looks like it should be in a store. The people of Rockefeller Center should call her to decorate their tree. Just thinking of what she could do with a tree that big blows the mind.

Here’s hoping that your holiday season is bright with happiness, and the Christmas Spirit.