Thanksgiving is somewhat of a forgotten child anymore. It's a bummer, but reality is Thanksgiving is nothing more than Americans stuffing their faces full of food, a tradition we do every day. So naturally, Thanksgiving has taken a backseat to the shadow of Christmas. The day immediately after Thanksgiving is filled with people willing to sacrifice themselves and small children to great deals and low, low prices. Black Friday marks the start of the holidays and it is a never ending supply of Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.
Today marks the start to my Christmas spirit and it started out okay. The office was bustling with the anxious holiday spirit, waiting to be let out for everyone to enjoy and I was the one to unleash it! Translation: I was supposed to put up our 9 foot Christmas tree by myself. No problem. I have enough Christmas joy in me to light up a city block, surely this will only make me more excited for Christmas to come! (Eh-hem)
The boxes containing parts of the artificial tree are located at the top of a very narrow staircase, past a line of stacked boxes with loose files, over a desk, and next to the air conditioning. It is a long journey. No fear, I was chanting Christmas carols and wearing my coat in spirit of the season, so the journey would be easy! Little did I know that the boxes are a cumbersome load and weigh an easy 30 pounds, but top heavy. No fear, I am a bucking young lad with vitality and strength! Little did I know that I was wearing a heart monitor, which is glued to my chest and it has wires running from them, wires which catch on the box on the way down the stairs and rip holes through my flesh. Hey, it's all part of the season though, right? Besides I was still happy, still singing carols, and excited for Baby Jesus' Birthday. Life was good.
An hour in to putting up the tree, life wasn't good. The tree was a monstrosity of Christmas lights, broken branches, and toppling, inner structure. Branches were literally held together with paper clips and screws jammed into the base of it. Twigs broke off and nested in my hair and my arms were scraped
and dry. I think if I even heard a Christmas song, I'd punch the wall. I flung off my coat long ago and
was now sweaty and gross. The lights in the tree were a jumbled mess that resembled Chevy Chase's Christmas lights. Christmas is now the worst. In total, it took me nearly two hours to put the tree up, nearly electrocute myself, and get the lights working again. Even at that, it was a shoddy effort at best. Defeated, I covered the front desk switchboard for a while, hoping that I could relax my mind from all the mess. First caller, off the block, was a guy who went by the name of "the Cuban" or something and claimed to be a madman. My Monday just never ends.
But, whether we like it or not, Christmas is upon us, and this sort of this is to be expected. Craziness and decoration malfunctions are in our future for the next month. Often, we get into "the spirit" of Christmas about a week before Christmas starts because that is when church services start up and a Charlie Brown Christmas airs on TV. But why do we start then? We have a whole month of stuff going on. Why not start now with a little extra joy now? Granted, we should feel like that all year, but this month, why not be a little more joyful than usual. It's Christmas, a time of joy, giving, and love. Lighten up.
KB
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