I Surrender

Maybe it's a sign of getting older in general, or maybe it's just the place that I've been in for the last couple of years, who knows?  Whatever the reason, I've been trying really hard (this year especially) to not get carried away in all of the Christmas hoopla just yet.  

I've tried to stay focused on November, with the coming holiday being Thanksgiving.

I love Christmas, don't get me wrong.  Christmastime is my absolute favorite time of year and in years past I've immediately thrown myself in to all things Christmas as soon as the jack-o-lanterns were put away.  Something is different now, though.  I don't like how we've become so focused on Christmas that Thanksgiving loses it meaning and the only reason people think about it at all is that it means that you're just hours away from Black Friday.  Heck...some people even call it Grey Thursday.  

Not Thanksgiving, but Grey Thursday!!!

So it isn't easy, both from a retail perspective and from a giddy-that-your-favorite-time-of-year-is-coming perspective, but I've been trying very hard to put Christmas in the back of my mind for a while. 

Things were going along fairly well until this last week.

I saw these laying around the workroom.  Clearly a teacher was busy prepping.

And this.  Granted, it's our Giving Tree and we need to get it out early, but still.
There's now a Christmas tree sitting four feet away from my desk.

And these.  Many lights are up (presumably left from last year), but these were actually turned on.
(Sorry about the poor picture, I may have been driving...)

And then I turned TV on and saw it.  THE commercial. 
The one that I hadn't seen yet, and the one that in my mind signifies that Christmas is truly here.

The thing that finally did it, that put me over the edge? 
My wonderful husband surprised me with a gift this afternoon. 

So I will still celebrate Thanksgiving, wholeheartedly.  I will be thankful.  So very thankful.
I will thoroughly enjoy two days of turkey and stuffing and pie and potato casserole (please, Aunt Lissa!), and I am looking forward to the time spent with family and friends.  Can't wait for my boy to get home!

But I won't fight the arrival of Christmastime anymore.  I'll open my new CD and embrace it.

Bring it on.