Christmas again

I probably said this last year, but I swear, I will not go through this again next year. We left the mall at 10:35 on the 23rd - in a drenching rain, I might add. And we still have three things to buy at the grocery store tomorrow before we're officially done with the Christmas shopping. That's right, once again we've put things off and are shopping on Christmas Eve. We had dinner at McDonald's, which is SOOOO not on my "Top 100 places to Eat" list. Meh.

Technically, we're not done, because DH and I aren't really done buying for each other. I gave up and told him I couldn't come up with anything good. He's getting 2 books, a video and his traditional Dilbert page-a-day calendar, even though last' years is still sitting in the box. We'll buy something for each other later. DH is mentioning a Blu-ray player, but I'm not in favor of the idea. No room for it on the TV stand, and we only have 3 Blu-ray discs (thanks to the new Blu-ray/DVD combo pack idea).

Lately I don't enjoy Christmas, I come close to hating the whole mess, and I think this is part of the reason. Spending Christmas week shopping means I don't have time to relax and actually appreciate the holiday. Plus there's travel issues. Christmas Eve at DH's family, plus midnight mass (technically 10:30 mass), means 2 hours of driving total, and we get home around 3:00 a.m. since they do gifts after mass. Then we haul out of bed Christmas morning and drive to my family, 2 hours one way. And I'm usually stressing because we're never early enough to suit my mom, and half the time they've opened all the other gifts before we get there.

So I'm putting a BIG note in my planner next Halloween, reminding me to start working on the holiday prep, or I'll have to kick my own butt.

On the up side (kind of), looks like we'll have a white christmas this year, even with the thunderstorm on Wednesday night.