Somehow this became a ramble
I am going to spend my entire morning attempting to distract myself from the cyber Monday deals on etsy. Mostly because I am DONE my shopping. We usually try to do a mix of handmade-by-us Christmas gifts and handmade-by-others, but with being able to give wedding pictures to some people and some deal-centered shopping ahead, the gift-giving is pretty under control. Also, there are suddenly a ton of kids in the family, so that definitely inspires shopping early because kids stuff is SO CUTE OMG.
I actually really like the gift-giving part of Christmas. I enjoy the search of finding personality-appropriate gifts, unusual and oddball things, or really meaningful gifts. Christmas has, in the past, been a holiday full of really upsetting drama that made me dread the entirely November and December and the ISSUES that would inevitably arise, but the more time I spent having the holidays with my wife, who LOVES Christmas and who has some wonderful holiday traditions, I've found a way to keep the traditions I have loved and actually.....love them again. I've also tried to break the GIFTS = LOVE subtext that I got saddled with, and remember that love = love and that gifts are often just things, and the gesture is what matters most.
This weekend was fabulously long and much needed. Thursday was Thanksgiving travel with good food and lots of family, and Friday was Thanksgiving at home with a small crowd and too much food. I was too occupied with trying to time everything so that it was all ready at the same to remember to take pictures, but the best successes of the day were the cranberry sauce with red wine and pomegranate molasses and the wild mushroom wild rice. Runners up, I'd say, were the maple pecan pie with wheat crust, and the sweet potatoes with garlic oil and brown-buttered sage. Yay Cooking! And then there was still a whole weekend, to do laundry and write stories and watch X-Files marathons and buy new gorgeous pre-lit Christmas trees (well, we just bought one.)
I had other things to say, but now that I've rambled on about holiday randomness, I can't remember any of it. It's supposed to be unseasonably mild today and I'm wearing a dress with a belt for the first time ever and I....still kind of want to look at etsy. Ok, going to go make coffee.
No, wait, I remembered something! I'm going to make a master post of the Car Yuletide prompt exchange from last week, because you all came up with some FABULOUS stories. Hopefully I'll also finish writing the ones I haven't filled yet. Now, coffee for real.
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)
I actually really like the gift-giving part of Christmas. I enjoy the search of finding personality-appropriate gifts, unusual and oddball things, or really meaningful gifts. Christmas has, in the past, been a holiday full of really upsetting drama that made me dread the entirely November and December and the ISSUES that would inevitably arise, but the more time I spent having the holidays with my wife, who LOVES Christmas and who has some wonderful holiday traditions, I've found a way to keep the traditions I have loved and actually.....love them again. I've also tried to break the GIFTS = LOVE subtext that I got saddled with, and remember that love = love and that gifts are often just things, and the gesture is what matters most.
This weekend was fabulously long and much needed. Thursday was Thanksgiving travel with good food and lots of family, and Friday was Thanksgiving at home with a small crowd and too much food. I was too occupied with trying to time everything so that it was all ready at the same to remember to take pictures, but the best successes of the day were the cranberry sauce with red wine and pomegranate molasses and the wild mushroom wild rice. Runners up, I'd say, were the maple pecan pie with wheat crust, and the sweet potatoes with garlic oil and brown-buttered sage. Yay Cooking! And then there was still a whole weekend, to do laundry and write stories and watch X-Files marathons and buy new gorgeous pre-lit Christmas trees (well, we just bought one.)
I had other things to say, but now that I've rambled on about holiday randomness, I can't remember any of it. It's supposed to be unseasonably mild today and I'm wearing a dress with a belt for the first time ever and I....still kind of want to look at etsy. Ok, going to go make coffee.
No, wait, I remembered something! I'm going to make a master post of the Car Yuletide prompt exchange from last week, because you all came up with some FABULOUS stories. Hopefully I'll also finish writing the ones I haven't filled yet. Now, coffee for real.
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)