I missed last week; don't want to let another one go by. 3 things:

1) I'm not sure why but the holiday commercials are rubbing me the wrong way in a wronger way than usual this year. Like, in a way that has me yelling back at the television because they are so wrong--so over-the-top crass and commercial and try-hard. I don't dare look at the Hallmark movie slate right now, even if the goal is to make fun of them, because I'm sure their vibe/messaging will piss me off even more and I'm just not in the mood.

2) Even as I typed the above, the first snow of the season started falling and is sticking to the lawn outside my office window. It's very pretty--the big, fat, white flakes you get when the temperature up in the clouds just clicks over to freezing. Of course my weather app says, "Heavy rain forecasted for the next hour." At least it got the fact that it's precipitating correct, which is not always the case.

3) Sunday my sister and I took the kids Christmas shopping. We all want to get it out of the way ASAP this year, especially with their performance schedules. The Madrigals group JuneBug is in has 30 performances scheduled between Thanksgiving and the holiday break! I got the better end of the deal (for me)--JuneBug wanted to go to the big mall up in Appleton, and he wanted his mom to go with him to help him decide. For him, deciding is a whooooole process--gotta look at everything that's available, do the math, consider what they've asked for and what's available and what he thinks they'll really like, and once he's done all that, weigh it against the other gifts he's planning to buy and whether he should get things now or take his time to think about it and see if something better turns up or something goes on sale. The kid can spend an hour in a mall kiosk. I love him, but that much time in a mall makes my skin crawl.

Magpie, on the other hand, is a power shopper. She's scoped out possibilities and noticed what people say they like ahead of time. She also had a survey she'd filled out for the people she's shopping for with sizes and things they like. We marched into TJ Max and had two gifts bought in 15 minutes flat. Even had time to stop for lunch before the place where she wanted to buy the gift for her dog opened. She spent more than she'd been planning on for a couple items (she, too, has done the math), but she'll get more allowance next week and that will allow her to complete her shopping before Thanksgiving. Ms. Efficiency. I LOVE shopping with her.

Okay, that got really holiday themed; between the snow and the past 4 weeks of setup for our annual Nutcracker exhibition here at the museum it's hard to ignore the season, even if it's starting far earlier than I'd like. I have to go make some coffee. Even the SAD light isn't energizing me like it usually does today, but if I drink the coffee past lunchtime I'll be up until midnight and my whole borked-up sleep schedule will get even worse.