LIVING SOMEWHERE BETWEEN TINY TIM AND SCROOGE

I am not a scrooge. I love Christmas lights and how the City smells when the vendors sell pine trees on the sidewalk. I head to Rockefeller Center every year and ohh and ahh over the tree. I love all of that. But, I absolutely hate when the holidays come into the office. Luckily, Small Liberal Law Firm does not really do anything but have a generic holiday party and a “secret santa” type gift exchange and none of that bothers me. But, when I worked for Large Corporate Bank, I was the only person who refused to let anyone put a wreath or candy canes on my cubicle. I am a firm believer that the office is not my home and holiday traditions do not need to be shared with my co-workers. Especially because everyone celebrates in their own way and all the Christmas decorations make me a little uncomfortable.

I am not the only one who feels this way. Sister has someone in her office who put up all sorts of decorations over their cubicle. There are angels, a star, a mini-tree and a variety of other Christmas decorations. Sister’s co-worker asked Sister what she thought of the decorations and Sister bluntly told him that it was ugly and these types of decorations are for your home and not the office. While I lack Sister’s subtle touch, she is not entirely wrong. And, for the record, I think putting up Hanukkah decorations (a totally minor holiday) to compete with the Christmas ones is just plain stupid.

So, as much as I have avoided all references to the upcoming holidays in the office (except for the tree in the lobby of my building, which, while I am not a huge fan, I think is not too bad), I am well aware in my personal life of the need to buy gifts and get things together.

Actually, I am setting a new personal record. Almost all of my holiday shopping is completed without ever entering an actual store. This year, I decided that since I hate the lines and fuss that comes with hordes of people buying presents I would make a list of everything I wanted to buy people and then order it online. Everyone on my list is completed with the exception of a few hard-to-shop-for folks (Father, Father-in-Law, etc.) and all the gifts will be arriving to my parent’s apartment for me to pick up, wrap and hand out. Perfecto!

Sure, I am broke and would prefer, instead of gifts, folks gave me cash to cover the cost of the gift I had to buy them, but all in all, I think I made out pretty well this season. Plus, there were some extra kids this year for whom I had to buy presents and that darn Secret Santa thing at the office, which will cost me $20, but I think both kids and Co-worker will like their presents.

So yes, Husband and I have the holiday cheer. We are hosting a little get-together for some friends and lighting the candles and giving out presents. We may even have a driedle or two and some Hanukkah gelt. But all that stuff will be at home and not at the office. And, if you put up decorations in your office and ask me what I think, I will be a little nicer than Sister was to her co-worker, but the sentiment is the same.