There have been times when my wife and I did our Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. Get the grand parents to baby sit, get the sale fliers and out the door Dec 24th for a day of dashing from store to store, bargain to bargain, looking for that perfect gift that I knew was there last month. I can tell you it wasn’t by DeAnn’s choice, she is (or was) a better advance planner than I. I have corrupted that part of her. An inopportune snow storm combined with my procrastination could cause us to show up empty handed.
I can say my schedule was just too busy, but that’s not entirely true. I want to say it’s the result of my career choice, that procrastination is what makes me good at my job. Grain traders like to keep their options open to the last minute. But that’s not the whole truth either. It’s not that I don’t think about what to get someone, nor is it about planning my purchases and getting that bargain. It’s about finding that right item for each special person. I knew months ago what I would like to find for some and have racked my brain for others, but haven’t found just the right item, the right color, right size, nor the perfect gift. Everything and anything I could buy just falls short of expressing my love or thoughts to those around me.
Well that procrastination and pickiness bug hit me again this year. Not so much with shopping which I hope to finish today or tomorrow (Dec 22 – 23rd) a full day earlier than some years. I have procrastinated with what I wanted to put here. I started planning (better said thinking about) this post the day I posted my Thanksgiving thoughts. By black Friday I was in the mood to write something and started hunting for something special, something just right.
Now the day is here, I can’t wait till later, can no longer put it off, its time, and I still haven’t found just the right words, I have been struggling, I have been paralyzed with inability. I want this to be just right but am afraid it will be too long, too short, not as eloquent, as thought provoking, as glorifying as I would like for my words to be, I want to avoid the trivial. Christmas is special and every specially wrapped gift, every morsel of food, every greeting card, every light adorned house, every decorated tree, every word, falls short in honoring the birth of the Christ which we celebrate on the 25th.
So I come to the end of this page humbled, empty handed, and with absolutely nothing.
Merry Christmas
David
