Life With A Werewolf

Buying Season

          I'm one of those weird people who do not quite feel like it's Christmas season yet. For me, Christmas season starts the weekend before Christmas and runs through New Years day. This current season is set up for one thing and one thing only: buying. Tis the season to be buying crap. That's what this season is to me: Buying season.
          What are we all doing right now? Wearing out the credit cards, wearing out the floors in the stores, ducking inside each one hoping against hope that we don't hear that Mariah Carey song or another bad version of "White Christmas". We're scrolling through Amazon and E-bay deals, crowding the isles in the grocery stores to get the goodies to prepare. What this is, is preparation.
          I have this belief because it helps me deal with the insanity of this time of year. I used to be one of those types of people. The type that hates Christmas, that HATES all of the crowding, the cheer, the blah, blah blah. It took me a long time to realize why I was that way.
          It's because it felt like I was always in Christmas. Stores begin playing holiday music in June so you are reminded to buy Christmas gifts. When they're advertising Halloween decoration and candy in August, the Christmas decorations are right around the corner, literally, sitting on store shelves in one or two isles, shoved near a wall or forgotten corner somewhere. As if lying in wait for you drop your guard before they pounce on you. Television, before streaming came along to replace broadcast TV, used to even show "Christmas in July" and do endless reruns of Christmas movies for a week or two.
          "A Christmas Story", "A Christmas Carol" (All 140 different versions), "It's A Wonderful Life", "Charlie Brown's Christmas Special", and even "A Garfield Christmas Special". Why, certain channels were nice enough to endlessly re-run "A Christmas Story" for the entirety of December! One year it felt as if I'd seen the entire movie in pieces just by channel surfing.
          You can overdo anything. It begins to feel as if you're drowning as you're trying to swim upstream through an endless supply of bad Eggnog. That's the reason I swapped my philosophy on things. It isn't the Christmas season. It's the Buying season. It isn't the season of good cheer. It's the season of credit card debt.
          Good cheer is coming. That's when we get together, share presents and memories, hopefully before that certain aunt or uncle stands up and blasts everyone with their political opinions. It's the delicious home cooked food we only get on those special occasions. It's the traditions that we keep alive, no matter how crazy they are to some people.
          It's hard at times though, especially when you're in the middle of Buying season, your bank account is closer to a golf score on the PGA than to anything resembling financially solvent, you've heard that Burt Ive's song a thousand times with no end in sight, and your Christmas list is still longer than your arm. It can feel a bit overwhelming, especially this year at this time.
          A gift from the heart is far better than one from the wallet. Getting Crash a werewolf coffee mug for example is a smart gift. He enjoys coffee, loves being a werewolf, and will more than appreciate it cause it's from me. Getting Zack a new headset or a gift card for his PlayStation makes sense cause of how much he loves video games. Getting Kris and Sean car parts for their vehicles makes sense cause of what they love to do.
          None of my gifts are expensive. That joke about how low my bank account is, is pretty close to accurate. So, those car parts for example, may end up being cheap lighting gimmicks from Amazon or something. That gift card may end up only being twenty five bucks. Crash's mug may only be a fifteen dollar thing. None of that matters.
          Tis the buying season. It's the season to get things for our loved ones. For our families. It's sometimes hard, especially in this day and age of Iphone 87s and Galaxy 99 Slim Pros to remember things like that. To remember that it's not the amount of boxes around the tree, but the thought and care that went into selecting what was in the package. Or the sacrifice made to get it.
          To be fair, I'm not expecting anything extravagant in return. When the Buying Season is harsh, it's harsh for everyone, not just yourself. Prices go up, but pay doesn't. When people's pay doesn't go up the way it should, those of us living on benefits gets an even smaller bump.
          But it's not about any of that. Not supposed to be anyway. I can't afford to get Zack an awesome new PlayStation, or even a new controller. Can't afford to get Kris and Sean expensive new items they really want for their car, like a Ricaro racing seat and such. Can't afford to get Crash much of anything, really.
          Which can hurt if you let it. This is the part of the Buying Season that is most painful for some, and makes us all hate Christmas just a bit. The things you want to get people is just two inches out of financial reach. Just two inches beyond your finger tips.
          This year, I'm doing what I can. Getting the gifts I can afford and not expecting much in return. It's Buying Season after all. Tis the season to prepare. Part of preparing is understanding that, although wants are nice, it's the effort that counts. And I'm putting all of my effort into this. And part of my grocery money as well.
          Cause Buying season is going to lead to a great Christmas season. And that will hopefully start next year off better. Happy Buying Season, everyone. And Merry Christmas. Early.