The Countdown Begins....

Well, I guess it is now official...the holiday season is now officially underway. Only 28 more days until Xmas. Only 24 more until my 41st birthday!! I can hardly believe I am going to be that old. I hardly feel  it. I guess there are days when I do feel my age slowly creeping up on me and wish I didn't. lol I must say being born so close to Xmas, I always got jipped when it came to presents...I always managed to get that lumped together "combination Xmas/birthday" present. As a child, I hated it but as I got older, it usually meant I got better, more expensive presents so it wasn't quite as bad!! ;) hee hee
I dread going grocery shopping this time of year...especially since I do all my grocery shopping at the Super WalMart (which is conveniently open 24 hrs. a day). I am just trying to buy my food for the month and then I have to stand and wait in line for an hour because everyone goes there to buy Christmas presents. WalMart has no competition in our town, no Target or KMart, no toy stores or music stores. Well, I take that back for music...we have Best Buy. We have plenty of expensive little gift shops, clothing shops and 2 expensive dept. stores.(very small though) We don't even have a Kohl's.
 As for holiday shopping, I have no worries because I don't exchange gifts with anyone which is a shame because I love shopping for gifts and then taking them home and wrapping them special. I love picking out just the perfect present for someone. Most of my friends and I have stopped exchanging gifts due to finances or we just never exchanged gifts.
 My family no longer does the gift thing...they do "secret santa". However,since I am so far away I am never included which seems a bit unfair to me. When I was growing up there were maybe 15+ people to shop for, so when all the kids turned 18, they decided it was time to stop gift-giving for anyone over the age of 18, unless you wanted to buy them something. For instance, my Grandma was in her 80's so most people still got her something. My immediate family always got me presents but they are gone now. Christmas just hasn't been the same since then. I also no longer get any birthday gifts and I admit it makes me sad. Honestly, I cannot tell you the last time I unwrapped a birthday gift. And I still celebrate my birthday, cake and all.(mostly cake lol) I hope to do something special for my birthday this year. I am wanting to go to Myrtle Beach,SC for the weekend and eat at this cute restaurant that has all the waiters dressed as pirates with a real lagoon with swimming mermaids in it. It is an all you can eat buffet and the food is served in this giant pirate ship. Needless to say, it is very unusual. I am trying to post some pics of the place but for some reason, it is not working. I will have to try again.