Opting Out

December starts tomorrow.

What?!

How did that happen so fast? That means Christmas is twenty-six days away. Twenty-six days in which to bake, shop, wrap, package and mail stuff you shopped for and wrapped, write cards, and, if you are really lucky, rest, relax, enjoy, and revel in the Christmas Spirit.

I don't know about you, but, I tend to miss out on the rest, relaxation, enjoyment, and revelry more often than not. Not this year, though; this year, I am opting out of events or activities that I feel will push me out of the Enjoyment Zone and straight into Holiday Overload and Frustrationville.

Item number one that I will be skipping: Decorating my door for the annual office decorating contest. I share the office with two people, let them figure it out if they so desire.

Item number two: The naughty Christmas sweater party that Hugh and I have been invited to. Hugh will actually be out of town the day of the party and, just the thought of trying to come up with a clever sweater makes me itch, never mind gathering the supplies necessary to pull one off. I can drink wine at home alone and scratch less.

Item number three: My women's club's annual holiday party. It stopped being a Christmas party several years ago, and, frankly, I'm not in the mood to play the politically correct game this year. I'll stay in and watch The Little Drummer Boy on DVD instead.

Item number four: Present overload. I am scaling back on my shopping this year, mainly because we are trying to save money for a trip to Hawaii, but also because my loved ones have been pretty clear about not needing a lot more crap in their lives.

Item number five: Anything I am asked to do/invited to attend/encouraged to participate in, etc. that I don't feel the need to do/attend/be a part of.

I'm really feeling good about this. I wonder why I didn't think of it earlier?