Not so “Bah Humbug”…

It’s the holiday season, that 6 or 7 week stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. I intend to stuff my face with traditional holiday foods, drive around my neighborhood after 6pm and enjoy the gargantuan holiday light displays, exchange holiday greetings with strangers in the post office queue, splurge on a “gift” for me, and enjoy the down time. This year I still have the company of my 17 year old best friend Pica. It’s a lot of work to prepare her rice and chicken from scratch (that’s all she will eat now) because I’m not used to cooking. I’m glad I have the time to do it though. I don’t know how much time she has left so I want to give her anything she likes. Usually, at this festive time of year, I have been known to mutter under my breath “Merry ‘EFFING Christmas, MEH” because it represented in-your-face commercialism more than camaraderie or celebration. The frenzy of shopping for the right gifts in overcrowded stores with rude clerks, licking envelopes and mailing hundreds of cards, putting up decorations in competition with neighbors, and having to watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Carol” or “Miracle on 34^th Street” again for the umpteenth year on TV, gets to be a real drag. So this year I’m trimming my budget, adjusting my schedule (staying home and shopping on line) and my attitude (loving my time with my ‘best friend’), to a more seasonal friendly pace for me. Minimal decorations, cards and gifts only to family and a few close friends, and renting DVDs like ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Cowboys and Aliens’, ‘Midnight in Paris’, and ‘The Decendants’. So this year I am less “Scrooged” than years past. Merry Winter Solstice, and Happy Holidays!!