It's December 1st. We all know that it is the time for the Christmas holiday. Stores have had the displays up for over a month, Christmas songs have started making their rotation on the radio, and social media has started blowing up with countdowns until Santa comes to town. It does seem that retail stores are pushing the Christmas theme earlier every year. Especially, when you happen to see a few stores putting up their decorations before Halloween and "Black Friday sales" are starting on a Monday. Heck, these "Black Friday deals" with some of these places extend it to multiple days in a row, and no longer that exclusive day after Thanksgiving. Still, there are people lacking that holiday spirit when deep discounts come to light. Especially, when push comes to shove, literally, over that last $100 TV or all-the-rage toy on the shelf.
While businesses push to remind people that the holidays were "just around the corner" a couple months ago, I still have not exactly found the excitement of the upcoming events......
Usually, the day after Thanksgiving, I would go deep into the crawlspace of my home and drag out the Christmas decorations while DH would pull out the ladder and strings of outdoor lights to make our home look festive. For years, I had the Christmas holiday excitement running through my veins. While I may have dreaded shopping (hated it back then and I still loathe it now), I at least was pounding with the desire to get the holidays started. Now, it has been over a week since Thanksgiving and I just do not have that holiday energy to decorate the house. DH stopped bothering to decorate the outside with lights for about 5 years now. After the third vandalism in three consecutive years event towards our outdoor Christmas decorations, he decided to stop trying. That carrying all the holiday cheer and excitement rested firmly upon my shoulders. Since I don't do ladders, I will decorate the inside of the house. Apparently, all by myself.... on my day off. Last year, it took me a while to force myself into the Christmas spirit. And this year it is getting a little harder to do just that. Heck, I did not host Thanksgiving in my house this year.... and I have been happily hosting that holiday for years. I cooked a smaller version of the Thanksgiving feast just for DH, DD, and myself. Oh, and just so you know.... Doesn't matter if you cook for 3 or 33.... it still takes a good chunk of the day.
So here I am. I have a day off from work and the house to myself. Knowing that it would be easy, yet a total pain to my back to get the Christmas decorations done.... I have more interest in watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix and playing games on my Kindle. Of course, if I did not have those couple things to distract me, I do have dishes to wash because nobody in my home is willing to step up and help around here. Funny thing.... I realized I just sounded like my mother for a moment there. "nobody willing to help".... ha ha ha ha ha!!! More like nobody cares to step up and be helpful. They have friends to hang out with and better things to do than help clean around here. And really.... it appears I live to serve 24/7 and have no life, or they believe there is some magical fairy that appears only on my days off from work to clean and do laundry (spoiler alert: it is me). Of course, I apparently happen to be the only one that can cook around here and that the idea of eating out from time to time is totally appalling.... like it is against nature to allow me to be served food prepared by someone else in their presence. Beyond all the distractions in my wheelhouse (like taking the time to blog about it), I am just not all that excited about the holidays anymore.
I know I am not alone. There are people that wait until the very last moment to get their gift shopping done. I just wonder.... am I the only one that is not all that thrilled to decorate their house for the holidays? I just do not have all that much interest in pulling our decorations that stay up for about a month, just to take them down again. Especially, when I am the only one doing the work. Am I the only one that is not all that excited to buy gifts and wrap them when their "shiny newness" wears off in a day or two after it is opened? I stopped sending out Christmas cards just for the fact that while I appreciate being thought of, it just ends up being another piece of paper that gets thrown in the trash? Heck, just spending for postage one something that gets thrown away makes me throw up in my mouth just a little. Especially, with the budget that I am allowed to have. Am I not the only one that is not all that thrilled about the winter season because of the mounds of snow I get to shovel in my foreseeable future? I don't mind the cold so much with those frequent hot flashes I suffer from, but snow? That is a curse word in my book! Especially, since I apparently do a fair share of shoveling that garbage every year.
I know that I have tried to spark that interest in this holiday season that always managed to be one of my favorites as a child. This year, I went and spent a large amount of money in getting DH his gift. I gave it early because I thought I was going to do the usual entertaining at Thanksgiving and his recliner chair had seen better days and needed to be replaced. Heck, I called it his "ABC gift", which meant it was his anniversary, birthday AND Christmas gift all rolled into one. I know that I will be forgotten this Christmas by DH. He hates shopping more than I do. I believe the last gift he actually bought for me was 12 years ago. It was a snow globe and I still have it. What he does now is hand me $100 and tells me to buy my own Christmas gift with it. Not exactly all that special since I end up using it to buy something like some socks and underwear that comes to about $20 and I spend the remaining $80 on him and DD. I guess I hoped he would take the time to think of me when selecting a gift.... for me. Apparently, I have not been thought of much lately and I am now starting to feel the painful sting of not being appreciated. I wonder.... does this happen after 19 years of marriage? Or is it just me?
I do know that a little of my lackluster attitude is not from being lackluster. It is from being tired. So, so very tired. The holiday crunch is coming at work and I will be looking forward to all those last minute requests to get their hair done and the extension of my working hours to accommodate them. Then, I get to pile on the housework, cooking and holiday shopping and it will take me another month to take down the decorations that I have been procrastinating on getting done today. So.... is it just me that lacks this holiday excitement/energy? Or am I not alone?
Well, I guess I will try to at least muster up the will to get the Christmas tree out from the crawlspace today. Maybe, I will have it up by this afternoon. Not all that confident to make my living room a winter wonderland of Christmas wonder, but a decorated tree should be enough, right? Thanks for reading. Have a great day!
