The "Season."

Ah yes....that season is upon us again.

I started seeing the first Christmas sale hints not long after Labor Day....the sun was shining and if I can recall correctly, I may have been at the beach.

Fortunately, the business of ridding people of things has kept me busy enough to ignore the procession of invented holidays....Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Dollar Taco Tuesday....oh, wait, not that last one.  Facebook posts proclaim..."Only 16 more presents and I'll be done with Christmas shopping."  Funny how folks appear to want that process to end...sort of like cancer treatments.  I've listened to acquaintances lament about how they are dreading spending the holidays with mom, dad and all the belligerent cousins.  Christmas has, in many ways,  become a necessary evil that comes once a year...followed closely by the filing of income taxes.

Yes...Tis the sea-son for re-gift-ing....fa la la la la.... The season of family...giving....of waiting out in the cold at 1AM in front of a big box store.

This year...the statistics are in.  Consumers have spent a record amount on gifts.  More stuff for me to sell I guess.

As I watch the cars line up at the mall entrance, I'm content knowing that my family knows me now.  They don't ask what I want this year.  They know better.  My sister, also a minimalist to some degree has made a pact with me.  We will not exchange gifts.  Our gift to each other this year has been the new places we experienced together.  That's enough for me.  That makes me happy.  Thanks....I have everything I need.

I DO remember the warm feelings associated with Christmas as a kid.  Of course there were wrapped toys....but those were the days before I gave up the childhood practice of wanting everything that looked colorful or fun.  I can't remember what I received but I do remember staying up past my schoolnight bedtime to watch Charlie Brown, Frosty and my hour-long favorite that included colorful characters like Yukon Cornelius and an elf named Herbie who wanted to be a dentist.  I remember mom baking cookies, stringing up miniature lights and the smell of NYC pretzels and chestnuts at the big tree in Rockefeller Center.  The things I received were incidental (not at the time...but I realize they are now.)  It was the experiences that were important.  The smells, sights and tastes ...I remember vividly.  The things...I do not.

Next up...New Years resolutions!  Can I make it past January 15th?

Funny how the original caption of this picture mentioned Christmas shopping being stressful.
Holiday shopping....Meh...