It's Christmas?

After arriving in Fresno Tim and I started to relax. Well, as much as you can relax with the holidays just days away. With the move and all the craziness preceding our departure from Bozeman we hadn't done any Christmas shopping. This is highly uncharacteristic for me. I like to have it done early, if possible. But hey, considering everything that was happening for us, even compulsive little me could not coordinate gifts, early, this year. :( So that meant, the day before Christmas, we were doing ALL of our Christmas shopping. A feat I've never attempted before and may try to avoid in the future. I expected crowds and lines and chaos and there was plenty of all of the above everywhere we went. But for some reason I didn't feel annoyed, perturbed or impatient. Any guesses as to why I was feeling so blissful amongst the chaos? One incredibly simple fact: I did not have to work in any of these retail establishments. I did work at Macy's until early December so I had to distinct joy of Black Friday on two hours of sleep. But beyond our time in Bozeman I was free of retail. No crabby customers. No whiners who want to be accomodated when they ruin towels and demand free replacements. So I didn't mind waiting in lines because I wasn't the one at the beginning of the line with a seemingly endless shift in front of me. Ah yes, in a word, bliss.

After several hours of trying to track down gifts we had treats for everyone. We returned to Sarah and Brad's house where we used our old research posters as wrapping paper (a genius idea from Timmy) and they looked pretty awesome complete with bows. I couldn't resist posting a picture to Facebook and admitting that I had gotten a bit carried away. It. Was. True.

Despite the fact that I knew it was Christmas I was having trouble remembering that fact. With all the upheavel leaving Bozeman we did not harvest a Christmas tree for our house or put up any other decorations. And with being so busy I felt I hardly noticed all the Christmassy stuff everywhere. This is something I HATE because I LOVE the holidays. Call me silly but I hum Christmas carols, watch Christmas movies, do Christmas baking, love looking at Christmas lights on houses, love wrapping presents, the list goes on.

I'm so curious to see what next Christmas will be like. Of course, it will be our first in New Zealand but it will also be our first Christmas smack dab in the middle of summer. Summer. Summer! I wonder if I'm going to love that or hate it?? I really don't know. What I do know if that this year I felt thrown off by being in sunny California with incredibly beautiful weather on Christmas Day. Next Christmas shall be interesting!