It's Beginning to Look Just a Little Tiny Bit Like Christmas....

Christmas decorations seems to come out earlier and earlier every year. This year is no exception. With the economy being the way it has been, it is no surprise to me that the stores decorated early to try and increase sales. I think this has worked for me, as I am almost 100% done with my shopping. No, I did not go to the stores, but I would like to thank Amazon.com for their free shipping. Blissful I tell you.

Bryan and I put up their tree today and have been decorating the house. As I sit here typing, I can see the garland on the banister (I just love lights going up the stairs) and the very large and jazzy Christmas tree is to my right. His tree has both white and colored lights and it about 9" tall. Awesome I tell you! Christmas music is already being played 24 hours a day on KOSI 101.

On our way home we drove around the neighborhood and were surprised at how many people have their tree up already. Granted, I love Christmas and I would like to keep a "holiday" tree up all year, but I am just not feeling it yet. The music is on, the presents are almost all wrapped, but I am lacking the motivation to make my Christmas cards. People throw them out anyway so why do I make them? (I know a few of you keep them, so thank you!) Tomorrow we are decorating the tree with Camden and Torrin, and tonight Bryan and I went and bought Elf on Blu Ray so we will be watching that in a few. Maybe that will spark the Christmas magic for me.

I think part of my issue is I love Christmas so much that I don't want this time of year to end. I love the decorations, the music, getting cards in the mail, seeing the stores decked out, etc. so I want to prolong this time of year for as long as possible. I love the snow and pray for it to fall every year on Christmas. So far the big man has only listened a few times. Sadness. Santa needs snow to have his sleigh run better (which is does as it glides on the snow), so why can't it just snow every year on Christmas Eve and day?

Speaking of Santa (I know, I am random but I write like I think).....the more I think about it, the whole Santa thing is kind of mean. You grow up believing that this jolly chubby man is able to grant you wishes, make all the toys (or purchase them), wrap all of them and travel the entire world making it down the chimney with a huge bag of toys and making it to every child's house in one night. Seriously?  How would you even organize the bag of toys? A bag certainly would not fit all the toys for the entire world, nor would the sleigh fly unless everyone was getting gift cards. In reality, he would need a few semi trucks and several weeks for delivery and transit times.

I had a lot of questions when I was a kid, but why did the logistics of this Santa person never cross my mind? Why is that when we went to several malls in one day, I did not pick up on the fact there was no way possible that the Santa at one mall could get through the entire line of kids, hop in his sleigh and make it to the next mall before we did? Where did he park his sleigh? Parking is TOUGH at the mall during the holidays. How did he manage to park a sleigh WITH reindeer in a crowded mall parking lot? Why was I terrified of a burgular breaking into our house, but a strange man in a red suit was allowed to break into our house after everyone was asleep and I thought nothing of it?  I remember sleeping in my sister's bedroom on Christmas Eve. They told me that if I slept in my room I would hear the reindeer and Santa does not come unless I was asleep. Denise and Johnny are older than me, so when they would tell me this they knew they were lying, but hey, thanks to my siblings for keeping the magic alive for their little sis.

As many of you know, I am an emotional person. Commercials can make me cry, something sweet makes me teary and I do not hide my emotions at all. I have very vivid memories of good and bad times in my life, but I am not sure why I do not remember how I found out there was no Santa. (My sincere apologies if you are learning the truth about that from my blog. I am here if you need me....) Was it so painful that I blocked it out?  I know it was around the 3rd grade because in 5th grade my friend was telling people about Santa and the other students said he was not real. He got VERY upset and went to the encyclopedia (we had no internet back then people) and he showed us a picture of Santa in the book. To him, this was proof. But I honestly have NO memory of learning the truth about Santa. None. Nada. Zip.

Now that I am older, I think the concept of Santa is a beautiful idea. A man who takes care of everything AND delivers wrapped presents to millions in one night? If I were a kid now, I would probably think Santa is real. After all, there IS Amazon.com with free shipping, so he would not have to fly all over the place to get his job done. Fed Ex would do it for him. Or maybe UPS.... "Brown" could do a lot for Santa.  Plus, I would think hey, everyone is all about being "green" these days and animal rights, so why on earth would he fly around the world, polluting the air, and yanking on chains that are connected to animals? See, much more feasible these days.

I feel bad as an Aunt lying to my nephews and niece. Sure, it is a wonderful, magical part of being a child, but it really is a big fat lie. I am thinking that if I have children, the presents they get from Santa will be things like socks, really bad candy, ugly clothes and toys they want nothing to do with. This way when they find out there is no Santa they might be sad, but they will think, "Well, he gave really crappy gifts anyway." See, years of therapy avoided.

Off to watch Elf!