Wes and I braved the crowds on Saturday and did some shopping on Michigan Avenue. We looked for some couch pillows to match our new chair (which is finally arriving on Wednesday after sitting, unnoticed, in the warehouse for more than a week) and a few new duds for him. Saturday was the Michigan Avenue Christmas parade, complete with Santa and -- Mickey Mouse? The sidewalks were swamped with people, and a lot of the bigger stores like Crate Barrel were virtually impossible to navigate, but we still had a nice time. Surprisingly, the biggest nuisance wasn't the throngs of out-of-towners standing still on the sidewalk staring up. It was the Christmas music.
I know people write about his every year, but this year is the first that it really struck me. It's not even Thanksgiving, and yet the stores are festooned with wreaths and greenery and are blasting Christmas music throughout the store. Everywhere I looked I saw Christmas trees, big red bows, and twinkle lights. And my reaction, every time, was, "It's too soon. I'm not ready."
I love celebrating Christmas. I like decorating the apartment, shopping for gifts, baking cookies, planning for the special morning, attending Christmas eve services, and all of the merriment that goes with the holidays. Most of all, though, I love listening to Christmas music on the radio for 25 hallowed days. Christmas music makes me happy. I like the secular as well as the religious tunes, and I can sing along to all of them -- albeit none well. I love to belt out "Hark the Herald" and get goosebumps hearing a really talented singer do "O Holy Night." I even like the cheesy ones, like "My Grownup Christmas Wish." I'll take 'em all.
But not until after Thanksgiving at least.
1 comment:
agreed.
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