By Chris Goff
It’s that time of year and reality is setting in—our days for embracing the season are numbered. The holiday displays that popped up before Halloween are now picked over and coming down. Hanukkah is nearly upon us, and we have 14 more shopping days until Christmas. That’s right! If you have packages to mail, USPS is only giving you one more week.
Suffice it to say the musak has begun to sound very repetitious. The snow that blankets the earth (at least in my neck of the woods) brings frigid temperatures that drill to the bone. And the snowbirds who chose to delay their flights south are past rethinking their decisions!
But wait!
What about lighting candles, Santa parades and reindeer visits? What about presents piled under the tree, snowball fights with the grandkids, sledding, skating, building snowmen, and drinking copious amounts of spiked eggnog or hot chocolate?
At present, I have done my shopping. I’m wrapping packages to my favorite Christmas Playlist (one I compiled in 2017), and the packages will go out with days to spare. The decorations are up. The calendar is filling up with festive activities. Down time is filled by reading a book in front of the fire and watching Hallmark movies. And I have a knock list—
Build a snowman ✓
Santa parade ✓
Reindeer visit ✓
Snowball fight with grandkids ✓
I’m not ruling out sledding. I’m working on the pile of presents, and on consuming copious amounts of spiked beverages. Bottom line, I’m embracing the season!
Here’s wishing all of you the happiest of holidays!
Post your knock lists in the comments below, and let’s explore the possibilities! Hey, we still have a couple of weeks to go.
Chris Goff is the award-winning author of eight novels—six mysteries and two international thrillers. Her books have been finalists for Colorado Book Awards, Colorado Authors’ League Awards and Willa Cather Awards. In 2016, her debut thriller, Dark Waters, was a finalist for the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Crime Audiobook and took home a gold medal from the Military Writer’s Society of America. A former journalist, Goff is a long-standing member of multiple writing organizations and currently serves on the executive board of the International Association of Crime Writers. When not hard at work, she can often be found gallivanting around the world in search of stories and adventure.
I’m amazed you have already done your Christmas shopping – I’m just getting started.
Now you might have some time to work on your next great novel! Merry Merry.
I’m motivated by the PO deadline! But, that said, I’m pretty happy with my gift choices this year!
I also have everything wrapped and tagged, cards sent out, cookies sent to family. But with travel and working on the house, decorations have been reduced to minilights hung over the front room curtains and no cut-out cookies for us 🙁 though that helps greatly with the diet!