Thanksgiving is over. The pumpkin pie is gone. (insert audible sigh of sadness) Now what? But wait…Christmas is coming. This thought should make me happy but it actually causes me stress. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe because Thanksgiving is about food and conversation and catching up with relatives and friends you only see a few times per year. It’s a low key decadent food fueled experience.

Christmas on the other hand is about meeting other people’s expectations. Why isn’t your tree up? Did you hang lights on your house yet? What do you mean you aren’t canning artisanal jams for every single person you’ve ever met…are you some kind of slacker?

There are people who have had there trees up since November 1st and they’ve already completed their Christmas shopping and all the gifts are wrapped with a certain pattern of paper designated for each family member so they don’t have to bother with those tacky gift tags. (Seriously…I know people who do this.)

I on the other hand am wondering how much crap I have to fight through to find my tree and my ornaments in the basement. I’m wondering if I should invest in one of those tiny table top trees that comes fully decorated and lights up. I’m fantasizing about buying the same gift card for all five of my nephews and telling the grown ups in my families that we don’t do gifts for anyone over eighteen because we just end up exchanging gift cards. Maybe I need to take a deep breath and put on some Christmas music, throw a batch of Nestle break and bake cookies in the oven and hope that will jump start my Christmas spirit. How do you get into the mood for the holidays?