The Holiday Is Ending

Currently Reading: Loop by Koji Suzuki

And so we reach the end of one holiday season and the beginning of another. Thanksgiving 2005 is in the books. We're all well-fed and dreading the inevitable resumption of normal life Monday morning. It doesn't matter what you do, the past four days have been a vacation (unless you're stuck working in retail in which case it's been a living hell). Time to get back to work.

Unfortunately, most people will be pulling double duty for the next month. The end of Thanksgiving, as all retailers know, means the beginning of Christmas. So while we've all enjoyed the nice, relaxing pace of Thanksgiving, we all look at the calendar with dread seeing that December starts on Thursday leaving us just 24 days after that to cram in all our shopping.

My opinion on those after Thanksgiving sales really shifts this time of year. On the one hand, those people are NUTS. Waiting in line at 4 in the morning just to get into a Walmart? Are you kidding me? That's just CRAZY! There was nothing in their sales circular that was such a good deal that it was worth being at Walmart before dawn. On the other hand, those people probably have most of their shopping done already while the rest of us have to sweat it out for a few more weeks.

It sort of mirrors my general feelings about Christmas too. Yes, I'm very happy with the whole "season of giving" and so forth. I wish folks were that nice to each other all year instead of just compacting it into a month. But you know, it can be a LOT of pressure trying to figure out what to get people for Christmas. Everyone has at least ONE person who's just IMPOSSIBLE to buy for.

I see a lot of nodding heads out there. Actually, I think everyone reading this is nodding their head. I guess that makes it yet another universal truth.

Some people try and get around this problem by asking for Christmas lists but even then there's no gaurantee that plan will work. Say you get a list from a person and everything on that list is boring and un-festive? What happens, for example, if you ask your wife for a Christmas list and she hands you a list of kitchen appliances? Well mister, you'd better come up with something OFF that list because if she only gets kitchen appliances, it's going to be a COLD night for you in more ways than one.

Another way to get around it is by giving a gift card. Those are useful up to a point but it's sort of like you're giving up or worse, not even trying to figure out what gift to give. If, for example, you give a gift card to a music lover because you really want to get them a CD but you just aren't sure which one to buy, that's fine. They'll be happy to have it. But if you give someone a generic department store card with no thought behind it, don't be surprised if they aren't as "thrilled" as you were hoping.

It's a little more difficult for me, this year, trying to find gifts for everyone. CC's going to be a tough one. Her list is almost all appliances and "useful" things. Finding something fun for her is going to be a bit of a challenge. Same thing with my sister and her family. We moved out six months ago and I think I've seen them since only twice? Three times? Certainly not often enough to get an idea of what they'd like for Christmas. And then there's my mother. Usually she's the easiest to buy for because she drops hints all the time. Well, as I said before, been gone 6 months. No hints.

As it stands right now, I've got three people covered already. It's still November for a few more days so I suppose I'm not doing too bad. Still plenty of time to figure out what to get these folks. And I also have the added advantage of having CC too. She's pretty good at helping me come up with gift ideas. Together I'm sure we can come up with something. If not, well, I guess it's a stack of Target, Borders, and Best Buy gift cards for everyone :-)

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