Last-minute Christmas rush is for younger shoppers with more stamina than I have, and nerves of steel. My solution to my aversion to braving the crowds during Christmas hubbub is to accumulate them poco a poco throughout the year, stashing them in closets and trunks until Christmas is approaching.
On-line shopping is a brilliant invention, brilliant.
Cyber Monday has much less dread factor than Black Friday. On-line Wish Lists are a handy innovation as well.
I lay the gifts out on the bed in the spare room--when did I buy that!-- and see what else needs to be added, often a little cash. The pleasure for me lies in anticipating the delight of the recipient. If the dear ones receiving the gifts actually like the gifts, want them, are delighted--ah, that is the greatest Christmas pleasure.
A secondary pleasure is wrapping the presents, ribbons and bows, stuffing the stockings, piling them under the tree. Red, white and silver shiny paper this year.
If I were a Martian following the habits of humans, specifically Christian humans, I might wonder about the custom of bringing a tree into the house, adorning it with tinsel and ornaments, and gifts beneath like offerings to the Spirit of the tree, perhaps. I know that the Puritans, from whom I am descended, considered such doings pagan in the extreme.
Still, as Pastor Carol mentioned in her sermon this week, love is the gift of Christmas. "Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine. Love came down at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign." Giving to loved ones--and to strangers in need--reminds us of God's love, both personal and generic.
I find that reminder soothing, a great reason to attend church during the short, dark days of December.