Bah Humbugery

The GORGEUOS Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park.


We don't do Christmas.

Well, I mean we don't do Christmas like 99 percent of everyone else we know anyway. I don't give presents to anyone but B and the pets. We don't fly around the US visiting relatives we barely know. We don't set up large inflatable snowmen on our front lawn or buy a dying pine tree to stick in a corner and forget to water. I LOVE our Christmas!

It really struck me this year, how different my experience of Christmas is compared to other people I know. I bought B two presents (he was going to get more but one of the things he wanted took up the whole "Christmas present budget" so he had to be satisfied with one big, good present and one little thing). I told B not to get me anything big, just one or two small things I could open on Xmas morning. This way we weren't in an agony of suspense ("Will I get the Blendmaster 3000 and will he remember I want it in RED to match the Spicenhaugen towels?!!!") followed by the crash of disappointment ("the Blendmaster 3000 doesn't fit on the counter and towels are more a burnt cherry rather than a true red and they don't go with the ToastNinja XB I got but didn't ask for! My kitchen is RUINED!") and then the months of worrying how you are going to pay for this end of the year spending blitz. Instead we had a budget and spent some money on a really nice trip to Southwest Texas where we stayed at the gorgeous, restored Indian Lodge for four nights. We invited my Dad to meet us there and the three of us enjoyed hiking (me) birdwatching and photographing (my Dad) a trip to the McDonald Observatory (all three of us), scenic drives and some really nice meals both in Ft. Davis and at the restaurant there in the lodge. It was relaxing, beautiful, educational and fun. We had a wonderful trip! We returned home on the 23rd and were somewhat surprised to find the rest of the world involved in one giant traffic snarl on its way to buy last minute gifts. We had sort of forgotten, off in our quiet corner of mostly-unpopulated Texas, that everyone else was still doing the crazy consumer thing. Why would you want to do that? I swear, the gifts only make you happy for one morning and then you just want something else from the after Christmas sales. It makes more sense to just wait until after Christmas and buy what you want, drastically reduced. The way our gift giving had gotten we were only swapping money anyway, what with everyone wanting gift certificates. Every Christmas I give a set amount to my favorite charities. This makes me far happier than presents and my world is that much richer as a result.

This may sound like trite goody two-shoes crap, but I SWEAR to you it REALLY does make me SO much happier than I have EVER been when celebrating Christmas the way Big Business dictates we should.