I'm Divorcing Myself From The Infamous Denial Aisle

I made one of my homemade vanilla cheesecakes Friday morning before the heatwave shimmied in. The day before, I used a quart of freshly picked raspberries to make a gorgeous sauce for the cheesecake. While stirring the sauce, I was marveling at how much I love this time of the year because of all the fresh produce. Our freezer is stocked with a few bags of raspberries and blackberries. We have fresh green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce, and cucumbers in the refrigerator. 

All from Char and "Uncle" Bob.

My mind began to wander to a post I had seen that day on one of my social media streams. A very talented lady that I've known for quite some time was beginning the process of making pieces for Halloween and Christmas.

Gasp!

At first, I thought, "Okay. It's July. Only. July. Aren't we rushing into the holiday season a bit too quickly?"

I tried to justify the silliness of starting pieces for Halloween and Christmas. 

But, I couldn't.

Because. 

I thought back to when I was a content coordinator and blog writer for a couple of online deal and coupon sites. 

During the combined many years that I worked for these online deal and coupon sites, I was in a continuous state of living a couple of months ahead of schedule. 

For example, towards the end of September, I would be preparing material for Black Friday. Then Christmas. Then New Year's Resolutions. After the first week of January, it was all about Valentine's Day. Then Prom. I was posting deals and coupons for Summer items in April. A week before the 4th of July, I put together promotions and deals for back to school and college campus shopping. In August, I was posting deals for the Fall season. 

Amid all of that, I kept up with other holiday deals and coupons like Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Easter, etc.

Throughout those years, it was difficult to 'bout near impossible for me to simply be in the here and now. In the moment.

A few years ago when we started offering Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Projects and other pieces, I attempted to convince myself that we could wait to until the actual season to start the process. In other words, we waited a week before October to make and paint the wooden pumpkins. Then, we waited until a week before December to make our snowmen. 

I remember last year, during the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I told Lisa that we needed to begin our holiday pieces in August. 

If that mean crocheting scarves and hats for our adorable wooden snowmen in August, then so be it. 

As my raspberry sauce thickened, I realized that the talented lady whose post I had seen earlier was on track. July is almost over. August is right around the corner.

We need to start planning on what we're going to make this year for Halloween and Christmas. And, the type of ornaments we're going to sell for 2019.

I realize that I'll be that Work at Home Dog Mom who is sitting at the table. Eating a salad made with freshly picked garden vegetables. 

And...crocheting mini scarves and hats for our Bodacious Snowmen. 

Or, painting Christmas ornaments.