Christmas - An "Over" Time...

Christmas "Over" Time ...

I've found that time has a way of getting away from me, the older I get.

It seems like only yesterday I carefully packed away the Christmas ornaments and decorations, the outside wreaths, and swept up the last of the pine needles.

Is it just me, or do you feel it, too?

I've only just turned the calendar page to December and yesterday I saw Santa Claus in front of the grocery, houses with outdoor Christmas lights ... and Robert and I still have pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving in our fridge.

I don't know.  These last few years, the Christmas season seems to arrive on, or about, the day after Halloween.

It's almost scary how the malls put up their Christmas lights and decorations increasingly early to entice us, knowing full well our propensity for holiday nostalgia and overindulgence.  The stores all order abundantly, striving for hefty holiday sales -- and an even heftier bottom line at year’s end.

It's sad that Christmas has become such an “over” time. We over-spend, over-eat, over-party, and end up trying to fit God -- the reason there IS Christmas -- in between over-abundant holiday schedules and over-long gift lists.

Seems the only thing we don’t overdo is helping the less fortunate by dropping a few extra coins in the bucket when we see Santa’s helpers ringing bells around town.

Please don’t misunderstand. Anyone who knows me, knows Christmas is my favorite time of year. I get all swept up in the nostalgia and the warm and fuzzies -- I just can’t help myself.

Every year, I watch the classic Christmas movies.  I cry as I watch The Gathering.  I laugh (until I cry) at Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and I think Barbara Stanwyck is hilarious in Christmas in Connecticut.  We all love Jimmy Stewart in It‘s a Wonderful Life, and Christmas just wouldn’t be complete without Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. 

However, this year, I vow to try even harder to remember and celebrate Christmas for it’s true meaning.

I’m going to focus my ‘over’ time on the people I care most about, those who care most about me, and those who have never had a visit from Santa Claus.

Oh, and the only bottom line I’m going to be concerned with is the one I sit on ... and I sure as heck don’t want that one to get any bigger ...


“A writer soon learns that easy to read is hard to write.” ~CJ Heck