Trying to get in the holiday mood...

I’ve been wondering why the Christmas spirit seemed so far away this year. I thought it might be the lack of decorating but most of the decorating is done (except for the trees which we do not have). The presents are wrapped which is a totally new experience since it isn’t Christmas Eve yet. I think I’ve narrowed it down though. We haven’t been reading Christmas stories or listening to Christmas music. I have found the year round Christmas music station for the car but in the office we never even got the hold music switched over from Ocean Breeze to the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD.
Reading, however, has been the big thing. I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things, a collection of horror and what used to be called “fantastic” stories; more along the lines of preparation for Halloween than Christmas. So, in order to create the spirit of the season, I hit the library today and grabbed a stack from the holiday novels section. We’ll see how it goes this weekend. After all, I only have 4 days to get ready!