I met the Grinch dressed as a Cop today

No need to remind me that Christmas is one week from today and no one has received a Christmas card from me. They are still sitting in the "to-be-addressed-and-stamped" pile.

And I just started my Christmas shopping yesterday...

But I promise it will all get done -- it always does.

It's not like I haven't been celebrating the season. In fact, that's really the reason for the delay. There have just been other things going on. Parties, get-togethers, concerts, dinners-out. And those things actually make the season seem more season-ish to me than going out and buying gifts (although I do actually LOVE the fury of last-minute Christmas shopping!).

My parents are experience-givers versus traditional gift-givers at Christmas. We go do things together. This year we went to see the Vocal Majority concert and then to our favorite steak restaurant for dinner, a glass of wine and good conversation on Saturday night. It really was a magical evening -- everything Christmas is supposed to be about.

But today is Tuesday, and I am taking a deeeeeeeep breath to escape the claustrophobia and frantic-ness of obligation and just enjoy the season. On the way to lunch today to celebrate Christmas with my friends, Nick, Maytran, and LeeLee, I got yelled at by a cop because I was waiting patiently to turn. He told me that anyone with common sense would not wait but would just keep driving straight and find another way to get into the restaurant.

I told him he was mean and then drove away. Horrible, I know. And very unlike me. But he was trying to suck my Christmas spirit away just because someone gave him a gun to carry and a whistle to blow.

So can we make a vow? A vow to breathe (deep breath in, and now release...), a vow to love each other, and a vow to simply enjoy Christmas, regardless of the cost. Because it will be 12 months before we get it again. And honestly, there's too much to Christmas to let it be stolen by a whistle-carrying-cop or an angry co-worker or some Grinch.