All This Christmas Music is Making Me Lazy

With mah man at Madison Square Garden, Dec 2010

I’m feeling uninspired and unmotivated lately. I blame Christmas music and my neighbor who took three days to set all his decorations out… two weeks before Thanksgiving!

Yes, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (see what I mean?) and I feel the need to slow down. Work? Yes, because I have bills to pay but there’s little passion there right now.

And yesterday I had to go to Macy’s in a desperate attempt to find a pair of shoes that fit me. That was the first time I went to Macy’s since I moved out of New York. For me Macy’s is synonymous with Christmas shopping.

When I first came to the States one of the things I remember was how different Christmas felt in those first couple of years. It felt as if it wasn’t as much about the religious observance as it was about the commerce of it all. I still remember the feeling of walking into Macy’s on 34th Street. The decorations were stunning. I was 18 and came from a country that rarely saw such splendor. Shoppers, sparkles, the excitement of buying all those presents, Christmas tunes…everything encapsulated me alongside thousands of others.

Yes, I was a part of the Christmas shopping extravaganza.

Stop the Madness!

Things are quite a bit different now.

I found my own way of celebrating Christmas in this adopted country of mine, my version of the holidays that I’m comfortable with.
I only buy meaningful presents for a handful of family members.
Christmas music annoys me (except in December).
You won’t find me in a department store (this WAS my first time in Macy’s since I moved to Colorado in 2003, and it’s 5 miles away from my house).

Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas. Just not when it’s a two month ordeal. Can’t we just wait till December to start the madness?

It’s just not conducive to a productive life to be all Christmassy in November. Despite full schedule, I feel like doing is nothing – just resting and relaxing. I am barely interested in getting any work done. Mailbox is full, projects are piling up and I can’t seem to get anywhere.

Thanks, Christmas.

But maybe it’s really a part of natural cycle. We’ve worked hard all year long and now need to slow down, hibernate, rest and gain energy for the year ahead.

On a much related note, I’m worried that by 2015 we’ll be forced to shop to Christmas tunes starting in August!