Christmas is coming...

...and the weather is finally starting to agree with the calendar.
I guess a cold front hit last night. I woke up and left for work, and there was ice on my car!! Ordinarily considered a nuisance, ice is a welcome setback to me when it comes on the heels of a poorly-timed warm front. I put on a [purple!] fuzzy scarf and a nice, warm jacket. Yay!

It's odd about that jacket...it mirrors whatever color I wear with it. It's gray when it's sitting all by itself on a hanger, but when I wear blue, it looks bluey, and when I wear it with my [purple!] scarf, everyone swears the jacket is purple.

When I was in MO, I wore the jacket with the scarf. Everyone facing me (everyone who could see the scarf) said the jacket was purple. Those standing behind me would call it gray. And apparently the entire outfit made my hair look redder.
Go figure.

But I digress....digressing is a specialty of mine....
..........

I still have a bit of shopping to do. Why is it that every year I wait until December twenty-somethingth to start shopping?? And this year, I'm getting two gifts for everyone, so my list has automatically doubled, going from ten to twenty.

Mercies.

I got much of it done, but I still need to get seven or eight more gifts.
*Ashley crosses her fingers and hopes they can be found at the stores she visits tomorrow*

I'm actually kind of looking forward to the crowds I'll have to brave...crowds of like-minded procrastinators, all coming together in the unified spirit of haste, worry, rash spending, and goodwill that defines this holiday season.

I love the crowds because I love the people-watching.
Seriously, people have no idea how amusing they can be.
One of my favorite things to do on my way to work is watch the people who are making left turns when I'm at a stoplight.

I know, it's a lame passtime, but they cross the intersection, and you just get these little glimpses at who they are...the gray-haired stuffed suit who prattles on his terribly tiny cell phone as he adjusts his silk tie and takes a swallow of his Cafe Americano....the middle-aged woman, with her hands set firmly at ten and two on the wheel of a Windstar, chatting with someone sitting in the backseat...the man driving a beat-up pickup truck with the windows rolled down, toting several passengers in the bed and dragging a trailer carrying a load of lawn equipment...he looks tired already....the readily-caffeinated twenty-something singing her lungs sore in a very clean, smiley-face yellow VW bug...

...they fascinate me, without even trying. It doesn't take a great measure of imagination to guess at what the remainder of some commutes will look like. And I like shopping in crowds for the same reason. You get little bits of conversation, or little glimpses into their shopping carts, and how excited they look as they turn into the toy aisle, or the bed and bath aisle, or the housewares aisle.

And so I ramble...
;-)

Anyway, I suppose all that was to say I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And it escapes me that anyone would want to pass up the haste, worry, rash spending, and goodwill that comprise this joyous holiday season.
I love Christmas!

íFeliz Navidad, mi amigos!
Joyeaux Nöel, mas compains!
Merry Christmas, my friends, and have a Lord-blessed New Year!!!

~Ashley Michele~