Ho Ho Help, I've only got a week!

I don't quite know when it happened, or how, but this year the Christmas Spirit seems to have forgotten where I live. I am usually the first one shopping, baking, getting the tree up, not to mention my enormously overdone nativity (it has its own zip code). This year, I seem to be running permanently behind, no cookies baked, shopping not finished, down sized nativity, not a card written...and the worst part is, I feel overwhelmingly witchy and annoyed with the whole thing, for the most part. I'm not happy with a single gift that I bought and haven't listened to a single Christmas carol. Yet, overall, I'm quite content at the moment and can't really attribute this lack of ho ho holiday cheer to any particular reason. Last night I watched "Selling Spelling Manor" on HGTV and wondered if anyone on earth really needs a seventeen thousand square foot climate controlled attic and three gift wrapping rooms. I wondered about the gift wrapping rooms, especially, as I was sitting on my sofa trying unsuccesfully to wrap gifts on my lap while watching. And I have to admit that with three entire rooms of gift wrapping goodies organized into hundreds of plastic boxes at one's disposal, the finished product certainly eclipsed my sad and less than professional attempts. Then again, there should alwaysbe  more to consider  than appearance, right? Wow, I hope so or I am in so much trouble!  It reminded me of something I wrote a while back. I was reflecting on someone who was very good at presenting an elegant, finished exterior with very little to offer beyond the outer wrappings. This person seemed to always come out ahead while others who didn't have quite the same flair, but had far more to offer in terms of character, were continually overlooked.
Each of us is a gift. Some wrapped in shiny paper with bows and tassels….eye-catching, brilliant.  Others lie in battered cardboard held together with yellowed tape, luck…and the occasional prayer. Some pristine with perfect corners, others cruelly crushed and awkward angled. The choice may seem obvious…but, be cautious…choose wisely…the perfect package may be filled with nothing but crumpled tissue, while real treasure is disguised by a plain brown wrapper.

 That being said, if anyone finds the Spirit of Christmas, can you please give him or her my address..I'm becoming desperate!