Christmas Countdown

by Tammy Bundy

Did you know that there are less than 600 hours left until Christmas? That statistic is compliments of my daughter who obviously has too much time on her hands.
How does this holiday constantly sneak up on me?
I’m smart enough to remember that every year it falls on the same day. But for some reason, it is always a shock to hear how close the big day really is.
This should not happen to me, due to the fact that I am always amply warned about it, because every year it is the same routine.
Before the taste of my Thanksgiving turkey is out of my mouth, these words come out of the mouth of my dear mom: “I have all my Christmas shopping done.”
And those words set off an alarm system in my mind that makes me think I am already falling behind on a season that just arrived.
I should have known. I received even earlier warning signs about the closeness of the season way back when I was back-to-school shopping and I spied a poster advertisement telling me to buy early for the holidays.
But I was too busy with new schedules and homework and extra-curricular activities to pay attention. But my mom started her shopping.
Then I was given another gentle reminder of the impending season by the fact that the day after Halloween, my grocery store took down their trick-or-treat candy display and in its place put up Christmas cards and decorations.
But I was too busy gathering up chocolate stained costumes and pumpkin splattered remains to worry. By now, my mom was more than half-way done checking things off her Christmas list.
And as soon as the calendar said it was November, the commercials said we had better start buying our Christmas presents before it was too late.
But I was too busy finding out whose coats, hats and mittens had survived the perils of life in the attic, to go shopping for Christmas. But, my mom was down to buying stocking-stuffers by now.
And now, Thanksgiving is a memory and I hear those words again grating on my nerves like ornament hooks on a chalkboard, “I have all my Christmas shopping done.”
Now, in the past, I have actually tried to shop early for presents. But I usually find this does not work at my house. And I have three categories of explanations as to why this doesn’t work:
First of all, there is the exploration explanation. For, many times when I actually have tried to buy early Christmas presents, the present is eventually found by an eager elf who had been snooping.
Then there is the expiration explanation. Oftentimes a present that was considered the most magnificent potential present for a child when it was purchased in August, is no longer desired or even recognized by the coveting child when Christmas finally arrives.
And lastly there is the inexplicable explanation. This is when the present, purchased particularly prematurely, gets lost in the black hole that I sometimes call my bedroom closet. I won’t remember it or find until the next July.
But last weekend, I decided it was time to push all excuses and explanations aside. I was determined to get started on my Christmas shopping. Humming a few Christmas carols to put me in the spirit, I joyfully grabbed my keys and began to walk out the door. Then the phone rang. It was my mom. She was calling to tell me all her presents were now wrapped.
Battling the duel feelings of both panic and resignation, I sat down at the bottom of my stair steps in a motion of surrender.
This was the exact time when my daughter came up to me with her latest discovery.
Did you know there are less than 36,000 minutes left until Christmas?

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From The Book Of Mom: What Parents know by Heart published by St. Anthony Messenger Press
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