I feel like this guy.

I'm not a Christmas person.  I don't try hard to be one.  I don't think that I'm doom & gloom about it either.  I don't care if it's over-commercialized or over-hyped.  I just get lost somewhere in the hustle & bustle.  I don't think about what traditions we must continue.  I just do Christmas.  Gifts are slowly starting to trickle in to our hiding spots.  Items are being scratched off our lists.  I will make sugar cookies in the shapes of Christmas.  Reindeer will be slathered in frosting & Snowmen will have red hots for buttons.  Santa was visited, the picture was taken, & soon it will be added to our collection of past visits.  Christmas cards are stuffed into their envelopes & I'm using Facebook for good these days instead of seeing where my friends are having lunch (I hate that feature).  "Have you moved?  I think you've moved?" was typed a dozen times yesterday to a dozen different family members.  By the last one, I thought maybe I should just do a virtual card next year.  But I won't.  I'll get a hard copy in the mail.  With no letter.  I hate letters. We'll donate to giving trees & buy some new toys for Toys for Tots.  We'll root through our bins & weed out the toys that are broken or unloved. Rudoplh and Charlie Brown's Christmas have already been watched twice.  Elf and Christmas Story are on the play-deck.  Because we aren't traveling this year, it feels like a bit of stress has been lifted, but it also feels odd and unfamiliar.  We'll celebrate this weekend with Mark's family and my family will drive over a week later.  But this year, the boys will roll out of their own beds.  They will have to scream for us instead of running to the tree.  Mark will check if Santa visited and I will start the coffee.  They will get their "Morning Of Presents" picture taken and only then will they be allowed to run towards the presents.  When it's all done and the wrapping paper has been tossed and their favorite toys are opened, that's when Christmas joy will overtake me.  Until then, I'll bitch about what has to be done.

-Erika