I usually like Christmas. A lot. This year a series of mildly irritating circumstances in the immediate runup to the holiday reminded me of all the stuff I really despise about Christmas.

I’m lucky that although I am technically a part of the retail phenomenon that is the problem, neither I nor anyone else in the shop feel the need to force Christmas down anyone’s throat. In general? I blame retailers for everything I hate about Christmas. Starting as soon as they possibly can, sometimes before Halloween, we are whipped into a frenzy of spending and preparing and stressing to create the perfect day, which nearly always falls flat because we are all of us human. After months of preparation, Christmas leaves people exhausted. This is perfectly timed, as people are thrust into contact with their extended families with whom they may not get along even on the best of days.

We are told to shop for everyone, regardless of whether they want anything or can use the token you’ve procured for them. We either abstain from shopping for ourselves, or we buy stuff anyway and feel guilty. And then we still binge shop the day after Christmas. There are even sales for facilitating this.

Meanwhile, as Dublin is hit with weather we’re not equipped to handle, some people are left stranded and unable to travel wherever they’d planned on spending their Christmas. It throws things into sharp perspective, when you’re out shopping at the last minute for someone you may not get to see after all. You remember that what you (and they) really want is just to be home for Christmas.

I am lucky in that I usually get what I want for Christmas, which is to be home. After the frenzy dies down and everyone is enjoying the results of their frantic shopping, I can enjoy being home. It’s a lot easier these days than it used to be, but I don’t appreciate it any less.

I hope you’re enjoying your Christmas, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, and whatever you’re doing.

The weird thing is that I still love Christmas music. I’m just tired of singing it. I think a high tolerance to Christmas music is a requirement for a choral singer.

Having discharged my holiday duties as a singer, and nearly done with my duties as a postgrad (ha!), I depart today for Dublin via a long and convoluted route: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, then New York. I will bring my computer and will probably check mail once a day, but I won’t blog.

I will Twitter like a fiend, however. Follow me (DixieNomad) across the country, 140 characters at a time, if you’re so inclined.

As warned, I have not shipped out that salt, so uber’s box of kosher salt is first on the list. If there are any Irish knitters still reading who want wool from KnitPicks or other places that can’t or won’t ship outside of the US (or will but charge ridiculous prices), get in touch and I will see what I can do.

It really comes down to the fact that Thanksgiving makes a great starting gun for Christmas. In Ireland, there’s a sort of uneasy slump into Christmas, which is pulled further and further back each year by the shops. I am a big fan of Christmas, particularly I love Turkey dinners, but I often worry that I will start too early and get sick of them by the 25th. Thanksgiving is the ideal chance to get a decent meal out of the way early, so I can pick through the remaining weeks in a leisurely fashion, safe in the knowledge that I have started and can walk the race-track rather than feeling I need to run from a late start.