BRRRR!

I suppose it's that time of the year when cold weather sets in, but I still don't like it! Fortunately, we just barely missed the ice, just cold dreary rain. It's days like this I would love to have a laptop and just camp out in the bed, of course, nothing gets accomplished this way but, then again, it never does anyway! My husband and I visited our doctor for our yearly exam, no fun, but necessary. We both have cholesterol issues and so now we are on diets. I wasn't surprised, I do not eat the way I should. It's far easier to grab a sandwich or a frozen TV dinner for work than to eat something nutritious such as a salad and soup. It's kind of hard to even eat what I do, since there isn't a table to actually sit at. Sandwiches and TV dinners are easier to handle standing up or using my lap as a table. I must be doing something right though because I am not starving!
Christmas is just days away. It seems each year it becomes more difficult to buy things, to make things which I have also done in the past, this year, will be an impossibility, time and changes once again at work are going to prevent me from spreading waist lines. Our finances are squeaky tight, and with doctor visits, prescripts to fill, buying presents are becoming a faint possibility as well. Why is it that commercials portray happy families buying thousands of dollars worth of electronics and high dollar clothing, when in reality, those credit card bills that roll in in January won't get paid off for the next twenty years? I know these businesses need to make their money too, but they seem to make it look so wonderful and easy to purchase these items. I can almost guarantee folks who have had to foreclose on those fancy, expensive homes will be just like me, on the verge of scroogeville.
I have always thought Christmas should be about hoping for peace and goodwill, not just on a holiday, but throughout the whole year. Of course, Christmas isn't just about buying presents, I love to give out gifts, I am the most happiest when I do. What has happened to the original reason for the season? Commercialism. Stores are putting out the trees and ornaments in August, and it disgusts me. Families used to be happy if they were able to have food for a Christmas dinner and popcorn to decorate the tree they went out themselves and got, putting it up only days before Christmas. Some of my favorite Christmases were spent barely having presents. My folks had five kids to buy for, and some how they managed to get us all nice things. I know they had credit cards and I am sure they, just like anyone else who uses those things pay out the nose on interest rates for years. These days, it seems kids are not happy with pen and paper, a record, or coloring books and clothes to cover their butts. Is it just me or am I getting old? Is it because of high interest rates and gas prices? Shouldn't Christmas be about being with one's family and treasuring what they have instead of what they don't have? I don't know maybe I am just being a little grouchy, no money, and menopause definitely do not go hand in hand. Maybe I'll just out and by a bag of charcoal and put several lumps in sandwich bags and slap a bow on them! Am I funny or what?