Oh Christmas Branch...

...oh Chrismas Branch...nothing aggravates me more than hearing Christmas music before Halloween. Unless it’s seeing all the Christmas stuff out in the store, right next to the Halloween stuff. Ugh!! And I swore, I swore, that I would not play Christmas music in my store until Halloween had passed. But I caved, cause I’m weak. I played it….and ever since have been infected with the Christmas spirit. I had to play it cool and try to hide it, because I’m aware that it gets old if you start too early, but it’s almost Thanksgiving, so I guess I can come out of the closet!

I’m thankful for Christmas, for some intangible reason I can’t explain. I’m sure a lot of people feel that way. I’m not religious, and I don’t have a lot of money to blow on the presents I’d love to buy for everyone. But Christmas makes me happy anyway. Here are some of the things I love about the Christmas season;

The music. I love all of it, religious and secular alike. I especially love “O Holy Night”, and Handel’s “Halleluiah Chorus”. And of course all the traditional ones we all grew up with…back before it was not politically correct to observe Christmas in school.

The decorations, in all their tacky, cheesy, glitzy splendor. huHt!

The Nutcracker. To me it wouldn’t be Christmas without the Nutcracker. I had the LP of the London Symphony version when I was a kid and I would play it all year. I still have it, but it’s in pretty sad shape! I know all the music by heart, never get tired of it, and I have to watch it when it comes on TV. In fact I was in Wal-Mart with Preston a few weeks ago when what should I see on the huge wall-o-TVs but highlights of a new Nutcracker performance coming on PBS next month. I stopped everything and stood hypnotized as Preston waited for an answer to whatever question he had asked me, which I didn’t hear, until the commercial was over. I’ll have to check out PBS.com to see what THAT’s all about! Which brings me to:

PBS. Besides the Nutcracker, there are loads of other great things that air during the Christmas season! Also:

The Food Network. OMG, I don’t even cook a lot and I am fascinated by Emeril, Paula, Rachel, Martha, Giatta, and especially Alton Brown. I don’t really watch the Food Network during the year, but when Christmas rolls around I always check out whatever holiday shows are on.

Wrapping presents. I love to wrap. The main reason I wish I could afford to buy more presents is so I could wrap them.

The annual V&M Construction Christmas party. Our band has been invited to play at this party for the last 6 years, and were able to make 5 of them….number 7 is coming up next week. What a great bunch of people, and so much fun! They feed us, they dance for us, and then they pay us. Ya want better than that???

My Christmas tree. Last year we didn’t have much of a tree, we were not in a happy place. The year before we had spent Christmas eve and day trying to comfort our poor dog who we had to have put down the day after Christmas. It was horrible, and anyone who thinks that losing a pet is not a big deal is heartless. Anyway, last year we were not in a Christmas-y frame of mind, but this year I want to have a tree again. I miss the piney smell, the lights, and the tacky gold garland.

I’m thankful for Christmas.