The Hick Chic Grinch List

I couldn't find any pictures of the Grinch in a John Deere hat. So here's the next best thing.

List of reasons why I don't like Christmas
-I want to love it and feel guilty because I don't
-not good at planning
-I hate shopping
-sadness (why?)
-never enough money to give the things I want to give for gifts
-decisions about what to get/do/plan
-have to clean and decorate
-temptation to compare
-there's going to be a big letdown afterwards
-alternatives to buying gifts too hard to think about
-hate shopping
-hate the mall
-increased pace (the world's already fast enough)
-insincerity (advertising- they don't really wish me a merry Christmas, they just want my money!)
-blinking lights. I hate blinking flashing lights. Most of my neighbours have blinking lights.
-I hate spending money
-not good with crowds
-no patience to make gifts instead of buy
-I always eat too much
-My poor husband gets stuck making Christmas records for the entire month of June, and their mostly very insincere projects that are only being made to turn a buck, because somebody is going to put it in their shopping cart...and every year he's a part of ten of them. That's just the ones he works on. I can't listen to them. They make me feel evil in a bad way.
-"Reason for the season" different depending on who you talk to or what movie you watch
-celebration of Jesus' birth tainted by, you know, the world. Much like most of what he taught.
-as a Christian, I recognize this occasion and how important it is, but I know that Easter is the one that the entire faith is built on, and sometimes I get jealous of Christmas. Does that make any sense to anyone other than me???
-I see how much everybody else loves this time of year and feel sadly jealous because I don't feel it yet.

List of ways to make it better
-Let the kids decorate. On their own. Their way.
-shop at off times
-drink more! Okay maybe not...
-clean a little at a time
-make the kids clean more than they normally do (which isn't nearly enough far as I'm concerned)
-get out, walk, ride, sled
-think of Johnny in a santa suit. (Never before did I want to sit on Santa's knee.)
-watch the four good movies
-watch Edward Scissorhands. Sad. Hopeful.
-go visit Biddie and check out her Christmas village. Pretend that the little farm is where I live.
-more hugs
-read book of Luke in New Testament
-pray twice as hard as I usually do

List of Four Good Movies
-How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The real one. With the real Grinch.
-A Charlie Brown Christmas. You know, the one with the dinky sad little Christmas tree and the kids dancing and the Bible story at the end and all that.
-Elf. So awkward. So incorrect. So uncomfortably funny. So irritating. We watched it on Friday night.
-A Christmas Story, known in our house as, "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out."

I might watch Nightmare Before Christmas too, just to satisfy my dark sense of humour.

I'll be okay. I usually perk up a bit just in time. Sitting in church on Christmas eve with a candle in my hand singing the real Christmas songs...just in time.