Fast forward to this week and after work I had swung by the grocery store and the Christmas trees were half off. I partly felt bad for them going to waste and not being used but decided to pass and save the money. Mainly because I wouldn't have time to decorate the tree until after I got back from my travels and then would have it up for only a week before I would need to put it out for the week of tree collection.
Today we will have our department holiday party and yesterday was the larger campus wide party - a Christmas breakfast in Annenburg Hall which is very reminiscent of the great hall in the Hogwarts movies. It was such a big breakfast, I skipped lunch and barely had a dinner. I arrived midway through and loved that as I was walking down the hall between the occupied tables I was saying hello to person after person. It was amazing how many people I knew across departments from my short time working. I made a beeline to the food and then came out and was trying to figure out where to sit, who to network with, when I saw my staff waving me over. A good time to connect and bond over the wonderful setting and enjoy the smorgasbord of food.
I missed a ton of options even though I went back for seconds and thirds of different options. I started with the hot meal offerings, than moved over to bagels and lox and all the fixings, finally going back for a round at the pastries. Completely missing the drink stations. Eggnog and mulled cider and the most decadent hot chocolate bar with all the fixings from homemade whipped cream, to peppermint crumbles to chocolate shavings to add to your mug. Which I didn't see until I was leaving.
Speaking of which, I ended up leaving with two huge garbage bags. As we were wrapping up our dining and things were winding down, the staff started clearing the tables of decorations which consisted of mini poinsettias on a bed of winter greens. I popped over and asked what they were doing with them and if I could take some home. It worked out perfectly since they had just commented it was a shame to toss it all. Luckily I had parked nearby and could drop the bags off as I went to meetings. When I got back to my car later in the day, it smelled beautifully of Christmas - nice fresh greens. actually that's what I should do next year, a sniff test to see how fresh any greens I come by are.
What I liked about the whole experience is that my approach to things has changed, and stuck. During my time off, the first Christmas, I had swung, the other way and had bought three Christmas trees (two little ones and a regular one). Granted, I had stumbled upon a local nursery that had good prices, so the cost was not much more than what I'd paid for one tree in years previous.
But by last Christmas, I had shifted my approach, partially due to lack of disposable income. And couldn't afford a tree. Which is when you get creative and I hit the jackpot of fallen branches up in NH during an orienteering meet. That's the year I found that I still felt like I had accomplished the feel of Christmas, even without having a tree.
And this year I was resigned to figure out how to achieve the feel of Christmas with minimal greens. I'm actually planning on doing more decorating next week after the holidays. I want to go through my Christmas boxes and really try to use everything. And if it's not being used, question why am I keeping it. Granted, I'll give myself a little buffer so I can rotate things on display year to year. But if it's been two years and I haven't put it out, it's time to reconsider. And last year, by not having a tree I was dictated by the town trash schedule of when I had to take things down. As a result, I had different levels of decorations up much longer. I'm now thinking of it as decorating for winter. Enjoying the greens during the cold white months and having a little sparkle of light through the dark nights.
I love that because of my different thinking, I was more inclined to notice these opportunities. I don't know if I would have noticed staff cleaning up in years previous. And I love that I'm rethinking what is a necessity. And not resulting in deprivation. I still decorate way more than a bunch of family and friends, it's just a different approach. It boils down to living below your means (I.e. I spend less than what comes in). And as a result, I get more creative, which in turn gives me an energy boost when I come across creating something new and it works out.
On the flip side, I've found this is one of the more challenging Christmases for shopping. Usually I squirrel gifts away all year long while I'm out shopping, seeing something I think so and so may like. But now that I don't really go out perusing the aisles, that part of my brain that was really good at finding things is getting mushy. I went to TJ Maxx this week - which used to be one of my favorite stores, and it was just meh. I couldn't find that many treasures (I also think they have shifted their business model and the goods aren't as good as they used to be). Plus, I'm not great at shopping under deadline. But on the flip side, I was getting creative, due to limited funds, and swung by my local used bookstore where I have credit. And I found a bunch of goodies for people. Now that I'm cash only, when I went to wring up (they only let you use credit for a portion of the purchase), I found the total came up about $8 more than a hat I had on me. I started to head off to my car to grab some more money and then I paused and problem solved in a different way, I swapped out one item for just as good an item that was slightly less. As a result, the total came in under what I had on me.
I used to excuse my spending in the past, by using the loophole: it's a gift so it's ok to be indulgent. But I've learned you can still be indulgent without just throwing money at the situation - and usually the receiver won't notice the difference. I'm almost done my shopping and I think I may be able to pull it off within my regular monthly budget I give myself (I go to the atm at the first of the month and pull out $300 for all my expenses - I don't use my credit cards or debit card any more). We'll see. The biggest expense is where I'm not allowed to be creative. One person asked for a gift card and there's no way around that expense. And Nick and I are giving out teenage cousin cash - another one you can't get around.
And on a final note, I find myself making one of the gifts, a repeat of last year. And yet I didn't learn from last year that it always takes longer than I plan and I always run into snags and roadblocks. I feel great once I've finished and love the end product, but I really need to be more disciplined with when I work on the project. I'm off to try to finish the project this morning, before I try to squeeze in a visit to the gym and eat breakfast and get ready for an early morning meeting. A little too much to cram into a morning, but time is ticking.
Well that's me - as I see the time - must run.
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