Originally posted by Karen
It need not be boring - unless you WANT it to be!
Hmmm, let me rephrase that then - Christmas is kind of quiet and....restful. I haven't baked a Christmas cookie since I was 17 years old - - since I started working in retail. (It has always been my plan/dream to make them ahead of time, like in October, but I never feel very Christmasy then! ) I am so "Christmased-out" by the time December 25th rolls around that a nice long day of doing nothing feels pretty good. I work long shifts from Thanksgiving on; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts until my body clock is totally confused, and the last 2 weeks before Christmas, work 7 days a week, sometimes 12-16 hours a day, to get all the seasonal merchandise on the salesfloor; and during all this put up with a lot of verbal abuse from customers who aren't exactly in a forgiving, loving mood. I've been doing this for 24 straight years. It's a good-paying, secure, steady job though, so I shouldn't complain (even though I do), and it's OK the other 11 months out of the year. I also have to take care of all the festivity around the house, too, with decorating and wrapping gifts, and still keep up with the chores that don't go away for the holidays. As far as bringing treats to work, the company lays on a very nice lunch for us on Christmas Eve (to make us complacent about being there so late, LOL), and as far as the needy family to surprise, the company also sponsors several local families each year and we all donate money to buy them gifts, and donate decorated tree displays to them. I'd be too embarrassed to give gifts face-to-face; I like to just be anonymous. (I'm a stealth-gifter ) I just meant it would be boring in the sense that there's no family to be with like in the good old days.