Christmas hoves into view. Sigh.

I was all set to write a post about how the internet has transformed Christmas.   Reduce it to cut-and-dried transactions with Amazon, and you're home free.  No parking, no lines, no hassle.  Sanity restored.  Perfect!

If only. 

My cockiness has caught up with me.   I'm still getting jerked around by Christmas.  Shopping for gifts online helps, but it's still a season that catches me off-guard, saddens me with memories of childhood and also delights me with the whole magical-wonderland business (see below).

For decades, I tried to tame it.  I've experimented with pulling names for gift-giving, eliminating gift-giving,  and going to Hawaii to escape the whole thing (didn't work).  I've hosted potluck Christmas dinners and bought the whole shebang from a deli.  We've gone out for Christmas dinner at fancy hotels in Berkeley and San Francisco.  You name it, I've tried it.


Including a bow in my hair:




c. 1991

You can tell from my expression how well that worked.

When my neighbors Leah and Annika were young, they'd help me decorate my tree.  That was fun, but they were never in on taking down the tree, plus  they didn't cook Christmas dinner, do my Christmas cards, make sure there was enough wrapping paper, or run around town shopping. 

Christmas 1998

 I love it when January finally rolls around.



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Sunday afternoon, Jerry and I drove over the hill to the Orchard Nursery so I could buy some potted cyclamen, purely for non-Christmas reasons.   I'd nailed down almost all gifts online and was feeling like I had things under control.

I didn't have to hurry because Jerry was in the car listening to the '49'ers game.   Instead,  I wandered around looking at the displays:

 

 

 

 

 

So many possibilities

 

 

Even this: 

  

 

 

 

I went to the nursery for three cyclamen and ended up with $80 worth of plants  (but no poinsettias). 

 

Came home and distributed pots around the house and front yard, which I can see from the kitchen.  I felt perked up. 

 

I was trying to describe this to a friend and the best I could come up with was,  "Christmas is a pain in the butt with some good moments."    She agreed.    (I still think online shopping is great, though, especially from my Stressless Reclining Chair.)

Christmas Cactus in the kitchen window