Christmas is coming

You can deny it all you want, but Christmas is really just over a month away. I agree that it still seems a little early for decorations and Christmas sales (I think they should start after Thanksgiving), but it'll be here before you know it. I even got sucked into the spirit this afternoon on my shopping trip to Ikea. I went out there to pick up a new rug for our kitchen, but as it always goes with Ikea you can never buy just those few things on your list. It reminds me of shopping at Target. Those two stores have the best strategy for enticing buyers into spending at least $100 even when you intended to spend just $25. Anyway, I gave in to my impulse to buy a few new Christmas decorations at Ikea knowing I really don't want to go back there as it gets closer to Christmas when all the stores are mobbed with people. I will, however, keep them stashed away until after our trip to Australia and Bangkok. By then it'll be December 11 and then it's definitely time to decorate.

In other winter related news, they're forecasting snow for Basel by the end of the week! At first I thought it seeed a bit far-fetched, but today was really cold and gray and damp and it didn't get out of the 40s. Feels like winter to me. Bring on the snow!