Christmas is coming

I went shopping with friends yesterday. I was just looking for a small throw rug for my bedroom. I did find the perfect one, but not before finding, and buying without a second thought, a 4-foot red Christmas tree. We saw it on a top display shelf. It was beautiful! While searching the shelves we could only find white and green trees. Art found a floorperson who promptly went through the boxes on the shelf behind the green ones to reveal not only a red one but also purple, black, and OMG the most gorgeous dark blue. I managed to restrain myself and resisted buying the blue one also. But there are still at least six weeks before Christmas. I'll have to set up my tree forest and see if there is room for one more.



I just love the holiday season. Until recent years I was a traditionalist, who would not play Christmas music until after dessert on Thanksgiving. Then when eggnog started appearing on the shelves in supermarkets before Halloween, I thought why should I limit the timeframe for playing my favorite music. I just saw my first Christmas ad of the season on television last Thursday. It's time! A Christmas music CD goes into my car today.

For the past several years while working at the bookstore, I had the day after Thanksgiving off and my sister and I would go Christmas shopping. I think the earliest we ever started was 7am. This year I have to be to work at the hardware at 8am on Friday so if we want to continue the tradition, we may have to start at the ungodly hour of 5am. I used to think people who wanted to shop at that hour were crazy. Wait a minute! Not used to think. It is crazy! We'll have to think about it. But, I'm afraid the solution is going to be "let's do it!".

I'm told the hardware store is not like the bookstore during the holiday season. They do get in "gift merchandise" and decorations and have a day after Thanksgiving sale, but I don't think they dedicate a large space to it. Personally I think a hardware store is a great place to shop for Christmas gifts but I'll have to wait and see if others share my opinion.

When I worked at the bookstore I was probably the only person there who looked forward to the Christmas season. I loved the hustle and bustle. And I was the person in charge of weekly ordering (which could become "daily" during the last couple of weeks)! It was crazy but I loved it. I always tried to keep Christmas (and Putumayo's Jewish Odyssey) playing during business hours, although my co-workers complained. I would tell them studies have proven that Christmas music generates higher sales. I wonder if the local station we listen to at the hardware store plays Christmas music.