Bah-Humbug

Today is December 16th, as you're probably aware. Typically at around this time I have forced myself to put up our Christmas tree, grumbling the entire time, only to be pleased to have it up once it's done. (And no offense to Mr. Wonderful, but this is almost always done by myself. Hoping Junior will help when he's older.) Also at around this time, I have put into rotation my Christmas 78's on my 1921 Victrola. I've also at least attempted by now to make some sort of Christmas cookie/baked good/treat. Baking doesn't always go so well for me, as you may know.

However, this year is...well, different. There is not and will not be, a tree in our living room. Currently Junior's play pen is sitting where the tree would go anyway, and if his play pen can make him happy for just 5 minutes a day...it's staying right where it is. My Victrola motor is at the repair shop. I should be receiving it back soon, but it probably won't be much before Christmas if at all. That was Mr. Wonderful's push present to me--getting it repaired.
This less-than-convenient move, forced on us by less-than-considerate people (or so I think in my less generous moments) has taken away every single bit of anything slightly Christmassy around our house. And although I have battled Grinchiness off and on for about a decade now, having the option to indulge in the commercial Christmas trappings is something I never wanted taken away.

That being said, the older I've become, the more disgusted I am with certain aspects of the Christmas Season (and yes, I mean the Christmas season, not the holiday season). Pardon me as I rant for just a moment.
You see, I'm a stickler for that little phrase "The Reason for the Season". I even contemplated circumventing the whole Santa Clause thing with Junior because it truly takes away from Christmas' entire purpose--the remembrance of Christ; the marking of His birthday. After consideration and discussions, we are going to do Santa Clause with Beau but once he's old enough to really question...I won't be going to huge lengths to re-persuade him.
So, feeling that it's unfortunate that so many, when you ask them the meaning of Christmas, choose to say "It's about getting together with family and friends..." it's not going to be too difficult to skip all of the commercial trappings of Christmas this year. Every single one.
Besides, we have the following distraction:

What on earth did we do before Junior??