Last July, I think it was, I happened to notice the date was the 25th. I said to someone, “Only five more months ’til Christmas!”<\/p>\n
It’s an innocent joke until the fall. However, by October, when people really start to consider the stage-managing that’s required to bring about a successful Christmas, it’s perhaps more like a warning-bell.<\/p>\n
Christmas is easy to love. The decorations are wonderful, and typically everyone is in an elevated<\/em> mood during December – either because they’re imagining the gifts they’ll get, or because they’re imagining those they’ve yet to find. Either way, people have energy which is infectious.<\/p>\n Christmas cards sneak up on me – they are perhaps best in the mail by Dec. 1, which seems a long way before Christmas. We normally put up the outdoor decorations mid-November, the tree up the first week of December.<\/p>\n During the season, there are many special events to attend. I really like going to them, but each takes an evening, which further reduces time you might have expected. In a family, each person likely has one or two invitations, which can lead to eight nights of revelry, which then aren’t available for shopping, gift-wrapping, and other stage management duties.<\/p>\n I’m not complaining about Christmas; I love the concerts, the baking, the parties, as much as anyone. However, to fully enjoy them, it seems, a person might need to be prepared for Christmas by Dec. 1.<\/p>\n My wife mentioned starting the Christmas cards two weeks ago. It seemed early, but not now.<\/p>\n Cheers,<\/p>\n