Good morning, Happy Tuesday and, well, welcome to the holiday season. I know, crazy, right? 

But rather than fight it, I've embraced it. I have zoomed right past pumpkin spice everything and zeroed my thinking to the end of December. Yes, I know you won't believe me, but I already bought a Christmas present for my partner where it will sit in an unknown location (to him) for the next 114 days. 

I once saw a TV show once (I think it was EIGHT IS ENOUGH) where the mother of the family had purchased presents in the summer before her demise. As a kid, I thought it was kind of cool. And, in my 20s, after one harrowing holiday season where I was living in San Francisco and spent my lunch hour at Pier 39 franticly buying for my family and then having to ship it all back home at great cost, I thought, 'never again'.

How many times is it suddenly mid December and you're like "holy cow, I have to start shopping!" and then you can't find anything you want at the usual places and you don't have the time to hunt for it? Do in September. 

It's a bit more challenging to hide things in a New York apartment, but not impossible. Being an event planner where logistics are literally what I spend every day doing does help in coordinating these things. 

Try it. Sure, I know. There is a bit of a 'rush' in waiting til the last minute, but when you've bought, stored, wrapped and are done by the time everyone else is trying to figure out a Halloween costume, you get to December and realize that all that time you spent freaking out can now be spent tra la laing having cocktails with friends, co-workers, etc. I promise that you will LITERALLY DO IT THIS WAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. 

The downside is that your present receiver may decide between now and then to simply buy it for themselves not realizing that it's already sitting in a nearby undisclosed location (hint: keep the receipts). but this is part of the fun that re-introduces the element of 'risk' to the whole thing.

And, you can overspend. It doesn't seem like so much when you buy now and then see something else in a couple months. Because it's out of sight/out of mind, you can kind of forget it's there.

And, of course when you buy a few things in September, you do also run the risk of forgetting where you put it. It's harder to do in the small space of a NY apartment, but I've managed to do it. 

Anyway, try this and see how it goes. Would love to hear from anyone who has done this or currently does this. 

Above, please enjoy a holiday MEMO I made a couple years ago, it's one of my favorites!  

This is one of my favorite Xmas songs - enjoy it in all its 80s glory! 

Spoiler alert: this is not a post complaining about setting up Christmas decorations before we're 'supposed' to (ie just after Thanksgiving). In a world where Presidential elections get rolling roughly two to three years ahead of time, now that the genie is out of the bottle of getting the Xmas decor up as soon as Halloween has taken its final breath, it isn't going to go back in. 

No, this is actually going to be a blog post supporting ECD (Early Christmas Display). 

So, here's the thing - life in general is hard as it is. And, I think that no matter where you land on the political spectrum, I hope that we can, at least, agree that hmmmm things aren't going so well for the world right now - on edge and anxious.

(And, if you are one of those people who think that everything is honky dory, I kind of pity you.) 

In any event, I don't know about you, but I could use some Christmas tree lights. I could use a few songs about loving each other better. I would love to see candy canes and reindeer and Santas. And not even really just Christmas - but these days, I could go for any culture or religion that parties and celebrates and reflects on their lives and finds good cheer. 

On my way home from my consultant job this evening, I passed by Radio City Music Hall and noticed that the big tree was already up on the marquee. It probably goes up at this time of the year every year, but this year it feels especially early and yet also especially welcome. For a moment, the tree acted like lighting a match did for the Little Match Girl - a momentary reminder that there are good things in the world. 

And then some idiot bumped into me - and I had specifically gone off to the side of the sidewalk behind a narrow area of scaffolding especially because I didn't want to be in anyone's way.. it's like they had to literally go out of their way in order to bump me. Yeah, what was that reminder again? 

But, all the days and weeks go by, the world will become lit up with good cheer; but my challenge to you is to not let the idiots ruin it for you. 

And, even more importantly, don't let everyone's high expectations of the season get to you - the stress will amp up, as it does every year, as more and more people become unglued about spending money, going to parties, making themselves and everyone around them completely miserable. 

But don't let them win. Just enjoy the holiday season in all it's glory - and if that means putting up your Christmas decorations now, and if that'll make you feel better, by all means do it. You won't get a complaint from me.