Christmas Spirit...

I don't want to be a grinch, but Christmas is one of my least favorite times of the year.

1. It's waaaay too close to Thanksgiving.
2. There's too much pressure from every direction to shop and give gifts. You can almost taste the stress in the air. I'm all for spending time with family and being thoughtful of our gifts and time together, but there is so much commercialism out there that I think the spirit of Christmas may be a complete sham now. And this year is particularly hard on people with the economy as it is.

I've tried to get my family to go for the lower-cost/lower-key/more thoughtful gift exchange, but no dice. They always come back with "you don't have to buy us anything, but we're still going to get gifts for people." Which really doesn't help. I'm not an idiot, this is an all or nothing thing... either everyone goes light on the gifts or I come out looking like a cheap schmuck. This year, however, I've limited my gift giving to something I'm making myself. Only immediate family is getting anything bigger than a Christmas card. And I've specifically made it a point to let my mom know that me coming down and spending the entire week before Christmas with the family is the bulk of my gift to them.

So if you aren't family: you got a card.

If you didn't get a card: e-mail me your address and you'll get one post-New Years.

I'm not known for being prompt, but you have to give me an A for effort (sometimes).