It's Mostly the Most Wonderful Time

Before really getting into my article, I feel that a note of explanation about the theme for this week is warranted. Didn't notice the theme? It should be pretty close to the gigantic "Pluckytown" you see at the top. Go ahead and check, I can wait. And we're back! OK, let me preface my comments and even the topic by the fact that I love Christmas. I love getting together with my family. I love the food (w00t for lefsa!). I love playing cards (family tradition). I love singing the songs about Jesus' birth. I love exchanging gifts and the old jokes that we've recycled over 20+ years. However, with that said, there are still some things about the Christmas season (not necessarily Christmas itself) that I don't like. Hence the topic. Everyone square? Cool. Moving on.

This afternoon, my family (read: Anne) decided that it was time to put up the family Christmas tree. We purchased this tree when we were living in a very small apartment while in college. We purchased it with the thought that we'd be able to grow into it as we moved on with life and eventually moved into a house. We put the tree up in our living room. It consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 85% of the available space. That's a slight hyperbole for those of you keeping score at home. The correct ratio is 16% room, 84% tree. After we put the tree up, we said, "Why did we get such a huge tree? It doesn't leave us any space!" We've said that every year since. Seven and counting. We moved it from apartment to apartment and then to house. It's still way too freakishly big. And that leads me to what I dislike most about the Christmas season. No, it's not my tree. It's not even putting up the tree (which I held off doing as long as I could). It's how much work Christmas has become. The tree has only become an example of this.

When I was a kid, I loved putting up the tree. I would look forward to it for weeks. My mom would normally add the stipulation that if we're going to put up the tree, we need to get the whole house cleaned up first. I would throw myself into the work with a vigor unlike anything that doesn't involve food (hint: that's a lot of vigor). We would haul the boxes up from the basement for the tree and organize the branches ("Mom! This one doesn't have a color!"), put up the tree, put on the lights and all of the decorations. Then we'd turn all the lights in the house off and cuddle up together and just look at it for a little while, each one of us absorbed in his or her own thoughts. Now it seems as though I'm not allowed time to think. We have a mad rush that occurs around this time of year. It kicks off with one of the busiest shopping days of the year on the day after Thanksgiving and continues straight on through to the poor, confused husbands in the convenience store on Christmas Eve wondering if their wife would prefer "Pine" or "New Car" for her brand new air freshener.

Then there's the stress of the logistics. Whose family are we going to be spending Christmas with? When are we going to be with the other side of the family? How are we going to pay for all of the Christmas gifts? What do we bring for Christmas dinner? Are we spoiling the kids with the amount of gifts that we're buying? Did we not get them enough? How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? These questions need to be answered.

I lament the loss of my childhood innocence. The only thing I had to worry about leading up to celebrating Christmas was how I was going to be able to survive waiting for Mom and Dad to finish milking before we could open gifts. Now there's so many things about which we need to think. I suppose, to a certain extent, this same loss of innocence extends out to every aspect of life as an adult. As children, we long to be "grown up" and knowledgeable about the world. Now that I am grown up, I long for the simpler days of my youth. Sometimes, it's just hard to please people. And by people I mean me. It's the Pandora's box syndrome. We want to know what's in the box. Now that we know what's in the box, we wish we could put it back again. Stupid human nature.

So, there you have it: What I dislike most about the Christmas season. Although really it's not a new problem. I mean, wanting to regain our innocence could be traced back to, oh, Adam. Good to know I'm not alone.