Christmas Already?

I have a hard time with facing Christmas too early in the year.  Most times, I feel that once Halloween is past, society practically shoves Thanksgiving in a closet in a race to get to Christmas.  I blame the Retail World for this.  Anxious to make their Christmas sales, where people spend LOADS of money on all sorts of things.  Mostly it just bothers me that Thanksgiving is overlooked, because let's face it, it's not the same money maker as some of the other holidays.

Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday, but I enjoy the time spent with my family, the time off from work, and just getting into the holiday groove.  So before Thanksgiving hits, I avoid listening to (if I can help it) or playing Christmas music, I don't watch any Christmas programming, and I try to focus on the time before Christmas so it doesn't all slip away too quickly.

One thing that's unavoidable, though, is thinking about Christmas gifts.  I know I just said that Christmas has become too commercialized.  I like to think about Christmas as time with family and time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  But I do like giving gifts.  More than I like receiving them!  The planning that goes into that perfect present, the delight you see when someone opens what you have given them.  It's even more special with it's a handmade gift that you put a lot of time and effort into.  Last year, I surprised my family with hand-knit gifts. They had no clue I'd learned to knit.

So I guess what I'm sort of trying to say, in a round-about way, is that you will probably be hearing much less about knitting projects, and certainly few and far between FOs from now until after Christmas because I don't want to spoil any surprises.  I've got plenty of things to tell you about until then...probably...  I've left some of my holiday knitting to late in the year and some may think I'll never finish in time, but I'm dedicated.  And much faster than I was last year at this time.  :)

So now I wait until Black Friday.  Most people look forward to it for the deals at all the stores, the early morning shopping, dreading the crowds.  I'm anxious for it for other reasons, but mostly because that's when my Christmas spirit really kicks in.  Then the Christmas tree will go up, Christmas songs are set on the piano, and holiday programming on ABC Family goes into hyperdrive! :) (I'm a sucker for holiday made-for-tv-movies.)

And I'm happy to be part of 2 Christmas swaps on Ravelry this month.  One is a regular Christmas swap and the other is a Secret Santa swap.  On a sad note, I purchased some goodies recently for one swap partner, and just received news it wouldn't be available until Thanksgiving.  Yikes!  That's cutting it close to the mailing date.  So my partner may get her package in stages.  :)

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks for sticking with me!  I know it was sort of long and rambly and somewhat chaotic, and not even a picture to share.  But I appreciate you reading!