Christmas in October

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Because my travel schedule is so topsy-turvy these days, I’m having to plan ahead on the most basic things. Grocery shopping. Laundry. Christmas cards and gifts.

It’s Christmas in October, and I’m none too jolly.

I’m usually on top of this gift list throughout the year, but now that a deadline’s in place, the fun is slipping away. But waiting to shop isn’t an option, not with the year winding down in a frenzy.

xmasstory-santa.jpgSaturday, the mall was packed and then some. I couldn’t believe it. Shouldn’t these people be hunkered down watching football or racing or making their Halloween costumes? Instead, they were out in full force, a homely assortment of consumers trapping me at every turn.

Inspiration came in bits and pieces, even as I fled one store for another. I wasn’t really in the mood to think of others and what they might like to find under the tree.

The stores all look the same, gaudy in their fall finery. I just want to fill my bag with wrapped presents and call it a holiday, but no. More stores, more trudging, more notes on my crumpled list of names. Everyone is naughty, everyone is nice.

This precious autumn weekend comes at a high price, trapped inside with hordes already braced for a season’s greedings. All that was missing was Santa’s stand-in and the red-and-green bunting.

You could call me Scrooge, but that’s not right. Scrooge is a denizen of December, and we’re still occupying October. It’s supposed to be a month of fall festivals and crunchy leaves, of cider and candy, of sweaters and chapped hands.

But I’m lost in the yuletide, mapping out the Christmas card in my head, budgeting for gifts and getaways yet to come.

Rudolph, with your nose so red, won’t you come and shoot me dead?

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