Season's Greetings

While the holiday season for retailers seems to start shortly before Halloween, for me, it officially begins the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I figure I need at least a day to recover from Thanksgiving before contemplating the biggest, grandest, most expensive, and perhaps ridiculous celebration of all. Christmas is way over the top.

Don't get me wrong, I like family holidays. I like holidays where I can get busy in the kitchen and cook something wonderful for the people I love. But this holiday is out of control. I guess I am a grinch at heart. We've never put up a tree or a Channukah bush. We don't send out a lot of cards. And we try to keep the gift giving under control.

Ron and I went out for breakfast this morning, and quickly found ourselves seated in the Silver Diner. We went to Trader Joe's for some groceries, and again, the crowds were thin. I'm speculating that the masses were tuckered out from their Friday and Saturday shopping adventures.

Of course, the real reason I dislike this season is that our main road west goes right through a junction with the shopping mall entrance. For a month, traffic is pretty awful. Then sanity returns.