Bah humbug! Here it is three days to go before Christmas and I just cannot work up any enthusiasm for it this year. Oh, the bah humbug bit is wrong. I don't have negative feelings for it. I just don't have any enthusiasm.
Part of it is probably that I haven't been subject to much of the constant push for the holiday spirit that we used to get in the US. I don't think I have heard more than one or two Christmas songs so far this year and only a handful of homes around here actually put up decorations.
And I am not really sure they are all Christmas decorations. The people across the street have put up lots of pale blue lights in the bushes on their front lawn, and they are quite beautiful at night. My only problem is connecting pale blue to Christmas. Maybe it would work if they put up loudspeaker and played Elvis singing "I'll have a blue Christmas without you," but I am quite sure that hearing that song over and over would be quite effective in keeping me out of a jolly holiday mood.
It also doesn't help that all of my childhood memories equate Christmas with cold weather days where the sun sets around 4pm. Having the longest day of the year just four days before Christmas and sitting around in shorts and t-shirt just doesn't make me think of singing Jingle Bells. Even though we moved here more than 20 years ago, it's hard to break the connection between White and Christmas - but to be honest I would do anything in my power to avoid snow and freezing temperatures, so perhaps it's better just to get a bit sentimental listening to Bing Crosby dreaming of one.
There's another reason I am not much into Christmas this year. And that's the gift giving. Other than going out with Linda for Lily's gifts, everything else has been left in LK's hands. I will do online stuff for my family in the US, and leave it to the shopper in the family for everything else. But if Christmas is the season for giving, this year for me is more like the season for not working up a sweat about it.
Linda and I aren't exchanging gifts this year. We stopped doing it a few years ago when we both realized that if there was anything in this world either of us wanted and which we could afford, we just went ahead and got it. Why wait? In my case, this was because there wasn't much I wanted so when I did want it, it seemed simpler to just go get it.
In Linda's case, I think it had more to do with her belief that I was unlikely to get it right if I went out to get something she really wanted. But LK is a problem solver and one day she explained to me that almost anything from Tiffany would either be appropriate or easy to exchange for something appropriate. That worked until she realized that it was even easier if she just got it herself. So now we don't exchange gifts at Christmas.
Anyhow, now that I am retired, I am showing a lot more restraint about buying stuff for myself. So, LK, if you're reading this you should check out the Hairmax Lasercomb as featured on Rachael Ray's show. Think of it as a gift for both of us. I know it costs $540, but if it really grows back hair over bald areas, it should make both of us go Ho ho ho and restore our holiday spirit.
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