Fair Game

Ever since Sunday's Screen Shot, I can't stop thinking about Christmas. And now it's July, so Christmas talk is fair game.

Christmas is my go-to happy thought. When I was a child, people treated each other in December the way I thought they should treat each other year round. Now, when I am feeling overwhelmed or don't know what to do with myself, I play Christmas music.

I know it's weird.

Take pregnancy--one of the longest marathons of discomfort and uncertainty--I played Christmas music in July. In May. Whenever I felt like I needed a sliver of calm in my day, I pulled up some "Winter Wonderland" or "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the calm took over.

There was this period when iPods couldn't hold all my music. I would gladly drop some Paul Simon or U2 or Beatles tunes if that's what it took to get all my Christmas music on the device. Maybe that speaks more to my taste in music than my state of calm, I don't know.

I do know that Christmas is coming. Wrapping presents, filling the advent calendar, baking cookies, making special crafts, telling stories. It's all on the way. And it's all to that very nostalgic soundtrack.

Can't wait.