Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

christmas cheer

I think I’m finally starting to get into the “Christmas spirit” thing.

It takes me a long time to warm up to it every year — probably because I usually start off on the wrong foot, cursing the appearance of holiday displays in stores before Halloween. Once the holiday season officially arrives (in my book, Thanksgiving is the official start date), though, there’s so much involved in preparing for the holidays — not to mention just getting through all the business that’s usually going on — I’m kind of burnt out before I even get started. It’s generally not until a few days before that I have a chance to take a deep breath, chill out and generally enjoy the holiday cheer — music, movies, togetherness and whatnot.

On Sunday, Rob, Dari and I went to a Christmas movie festival put on by the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. We caught the tail end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and stayed to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story. And in between movies, Santa would come out and entertain the children in the audience. It was cute, and a lot of fun.

Tuesday was also holiday-a-riffic, between a lunchtime potluck at work and our annual tradition of gathering at Dari’s place for holiday movie-watching, homemade cookie-eating and gift-exchanging.

Right now, we’re on vacation in Tucson, with almost a full week to spend time with family and catch up with friends. I guess now I’m officially at that “take a deep breath and chill out” point, but I’m glad I was able to ease into the holiday spirit a few days early.