Getting Ready for Christmas...

I love Christmas. It would be easy for me to not really care about this Holiday, or to even not like it at all...

I worked retail for more than a decade. THAT could kill the joy of the Holiday Season for even the toughest of us.

But once I got out of retail, and began celebrating the Holiday without the aid of a mall, I really have come to love this time of year.

I think that, no matter what your religious beliefs are (I had an associate who was of the Jewish faith who LOVED the Holidays) or no matter whether or not you love the hustle and bustle of the Season, you gotta admit that people (for the most part) seem to want to be in a festive mood.

The key is not getting too caught up in the have to's or the spending.

So yesterday, we made a list of gifts for others we need to buy (it's not a super long list) and talked about our plans. We purchased and assembled a tiny shelf for the basement (which now holds the last two boxes of unpacked memorabilia from when Steinvic moved here) so that it will be prettier down there for when Young Man and his girlfriend join us in the next few weeks. Steinvic got out the little tree from his place, and put the exercise bike in the basement so that our living room is clear.

Now, we can decorate. Maybe tonight, maybe throughout the week. It's not massive amounts of decorations or anything...but I'm excited because this is our first married Christmas, our first Christmas in one home, our first Christmas of mixing our decorations and beginning our own new traditions.

Hope that you're finding some joy in the preparations of this season. Pop Elf into the DVD player, dim the lights, light some candles, pour some Nog (or Peppermint Coffee if you're anti-Nog) or wine and kick this season off the right way!