Christmas - What Happened? I've become a Scrooge

I used to go all out at Christmas, I'd buy the latest Christmas decor editions of magazines and start baking in November. I used to buy presents, go over my list again, return some for better ones. My house was decorated by December 1st with boxes upon boxes of decorations.

It's a week 'til Christmas break and I finally put up the tree, well the kids did I just helped a bit. There is no baking and the gifts were bought in one day and wrapped in one morning. There used to be a pile of presents, now only a few in comparison are placed under the tree. When it was only my son to buy for he had 3 times the gifts that the two of them have now.

Advent used to be a gift every night before bed, usually things like underwear, socks, a chocolate bar and small toy with one larger gift every Sunday. Now it's one of those $1.00 advent calendars you buy at WalMart.

There's snow outside, it's -30C and the whole neighbourhood is lit up, so why don't I feel the Christmas Spirit?

The biggest change for me was going back to work, I now don't have lots of extra time on my hands to prepare for an all out Christmas Blow Out. I have more money but less spirit. I am tired and pre occupied with work that the Christmas Spirit has flown the coup here. The kids are excited and can't wait but the house is space when it comes to decorations and my excitement has disappeared.

I wrapped all the gifts and placed them under the tree. I know their eyes will be big and their excitement will only increase, but I won't be here, I'll be off on a sales trip for the week returning on the weekend. I will have a few more gifts hopefully ready to place under the tree but the hassle of shopping for them will have taken all the joy out of it for me.

The malls here are so busy I can only conclude that someone forgot to tell Alberta there is a recession. Every weekend the malls are packed, even weekdays are so busy I'm grumpy. The malls here are always busy even in non Christmas shopping months that I wonder why the news continues to talk doom and gloom here, when obviously most of the residents are still spending money on a regular basis.

Why am I such a scrooge though? Did I use up all my Christmas cheer in the first few Christmas' my children will not even remember? Does making more money mean less cheer? Will my kids see a full blown out Christmas to remember again? I used to love Christmas, now it seems like one more to do on the to do list.