December 9th

"Bah, Humbug!"

By

Linda Adams

I despise to shop for Christmas gifts. My friend, Julie, and I are hitting the malls via the buddy system on Sunday. Neither one of us have even started to do our shopping.  Neither of us is looking forward to the experience either.

I used to take special care with each gift, putting a lot of thought and care into the item and packaging. It had to be just right – and unique. I hate gifting people with the same old thing that everybody else gives them. Gift giving should be fun, not predictable. It calls for care and love and imagination. It’s your one chance of the year to say to each person, “I care about you. Thanks for being in my life.” It should be memorable. I guess I still do and say that to a certain extent – I make my list and ponder just the right choice for each person. But that’s where it stops. Every year my sister-in-law asks me what I want for Christmas and what my mother wants or needs. I returned the favor this year and asked her – for the entire family’s wants and needs. To hell with these special care projects.

I’m just tired, I think. In previous years I would start my shopping earlier and drive from store to boutique to store, looking for the exact item I pictured in my mind. I used to spend hours browsing web sites for ideas and choices. Now, I just decide, get in the car, and if I can’t find the thing within a 4 hour shopping day they get the Plan B gift – a gift certificate. I don’t worry so much anymore whether they’ll really, really like it and think it’s one of their favorite gifts ever. After all, it’s the thought that counts, and my intentions are good.

When I turned 40, I just got over myself. Thank God. I was a wreck.  Amazingly, I woke up one day and realized that I honestly could care less about things like job titles, manicured nails and being number 1. 

I’m taking a kitchen timer, set to countdown 4:00 hours, with me on Sunday. That’s all the time these fools get. Then I’m going to go home and open a bottle of wine. 

It’s good for your heart.