i looked at the calendar today and realized that it's 12 days to go before christmas.  so if i were to sing the song "twelve days of christmas," day one would be today.  no, wait, if i were to count christmas day itself, then day one would fall on thursday.  that's what happens when you hate math and math hates you.  but, whatever.  what's more startling is that i'm 10% done with my christmas shopping.  well, at least for gifts i'll be giving to the people on my list this year.

i went to greenhills this past sunday, supposedly to do my christmas shopping, but i ended up buying additional wardrobe for myself.  mental note:  never ask or let your mom and your sister come with you when you do your christmas shopping.  chances are, you'll end up worrying about how they're keeping up with where you're going rather than checking the items on your list.  and that's what happened.  don't get me wrong, i enjoy being with them.  but only on normal days when we go to the mall or do the grocery.  christmas shopping should be an exception to the rule.  especially when you have plans of buying gifts for them.  oh well, lesson learned.

is it just me or is traffic at this time of the year better than the same time last year?  i hardly noticed any traffic jams over the weekend, well, not withstanding the non-stop rain we had this past sunday, but if memory serves me right, traffic on early december of last year was already a nightmare.  is it better because less people are out shopping, or is it bad because people in general don't spend time for christmas shopping anymore, thus slowly eroding the christmas spirit?  i dunno, i'm an optimist, yet a realist sometimes so i wouldn't know what to make of it.

there's an unwritten item in my christmas wishlist this year.  well, it has always been (not) there since, like, two years ago.  nope, it's not what you're normal mind would conceive.  oh well, hope that one gets finally written off this year.  if not, there's still my birthday this coming year.  though that would entail another five months of… more searching?

the sun is up, the weather is fine, the spirit is in the air, christmas is here… at least there's something for me to smile about.