The MOST wonderful time of the year, is what I'm telling myself.

Thanks Mentalfloss!

Anybody fully stocked and ready for Christmas or whatever other celebration you might observe that generally coincides with the winter solstice?

I suspect some of you are, as I've been fortunate enough to be in receipt of holiday cards from a couple of folks who blog (THANK YOU, you show-offs!).  How do you DO that?  What's the trigger?  Where do you find the discipline to just sit down and write 'em out?

Good grief - we just bought our tree on Sunday and started decorating it last night - a whole WEEK before the Big Day!  Pretty soon it'll be February and time to take it down again.  Time is flying by and I'm not a huge fan of that action, I must say.

I did purchase Christmas cards, so there's a step in the right direction.  Also had a bunch left over from last year, so the supply isn't an issue.  It's me and my congenital laziness.  Also, we were travelling the first two weekends of December, and by the time there WAS time, it was already almost the middle of the month and that was pretty overwhelming.

To make matters worse, I once again signed up for a Christmas card exchange, so there's 40 extra cards to write out and MORE shame to absorb because 3 days after the list was emailed out I got my first card, FROM AUSTRALIA!  Way to serve up the humble pie there, Ozzie. 

This year I'm not opening up any cards until Christmas day.  It just feels like the season is so rushed, that December is nothing but 'let's get ready' and the day comes with such expectation that almost nothing could be perfect enough to live up to the hype.  Plus which, the Things are with their Dad on Christmas Day, Biff's kids are hundreds of miles away,  thus the celebrating will be for just the 2 of us and that's kind of weird.  It's OK, we both think so, and are fine with it being weird.  So maybe opening a huge stack of cards, opening a few gifts, and listening to the Christmas/Wintersong CD I bought in Williamsburg earlier this month will be it.  Maybe I'll need that time to rest up, because 2 days later we trek to a family gathering, during which time there will be family aplenty, after which time the year turns and it's right back at whatever we're supposed to be doing right now.

Yeah, maybe a few peaceful days alone with the eggnog and Harry and David gift basket goodies is just what we need.

But first, the cards.  Must write the cards.

Amen.