This and That. And The Other.
December again. Once again, I ignored my solemn vow to buy at least one Christmas present a month so I wouldn't be frantic and stressed come the holidays. I bought exactly one gift: something for my dad. I got it over the summer, so now I have to find where I put it.
It's probably in my bedroom closet, which appears to have mice lurking in it. I have a large, walk-in closet which is not the tidiest room in my house. In addition to my grandfather's WWII footlocker, I have everything I've saved from high school and college, several boxes of photos, tons of notebooks, folders, purses... anything I don't want to get spoiled or musty in the basement. Which is a lot. I have a large wicker picnic basket where I squirrel away gifts for people... I made the mistake of planning a rather elaborate, homemade Advent calendar for Max, which involves a little gift bag with some small item attached to a string with clothespins. I bought some of the little items before we went to Florida and stuck them in this basket in the closet. When I went to assemble the Advent calendar bags, I discovered some small mammal (probably in the rodent family) had EATEN about five of the candy items. Yuck. Mice in my kitchen drawers was one thing: mice in my CLOSET in the room I SLEEP in is quite another.
Max asked if we could do Christmas stockings this year, and someone among the adults said yes. This adult didn't know about the Advent calendar scheme and must have forgotten that we've also given our child a little something for the eight nights of Hannukah. I was not sorry when my family stopped doing Christmas stockings. Not only was there the year my parents stopped buying my stocking gifts yet forgot to tell my husband (grrrr) but it also saved about $50 in unncessary items. However, Max has heard of the joys of stockings from his friends and felt he was missing out on an important tradition (apparently Max was told that you get to open stockings while parents are still sleeping and that apppealed to him). In my family of origin, we opened stocking gifts while waiting for my grandparents to arrive from PA. I've heard other friends say stockings are just for kids... I bought three stockings, assuming the three of us would revive the "tradition."
It looks like my little family may be on our own for Christmas this year. My sister is uneasy about traveling to VT with their toddler, and my folks are always concerned about the weather. And, as we know from reading my father's newspaper columns, he hates our guest bed. This would be the first Christmas I haven't spent with my family in my whole life. There was one year my sister was in Europe, and three Christmases before she was born, but other than that, we've always been together. It is weird and kind of sad to think we might not be gathering at all. I invited my folks, thinking they wouldn't want to be alone on another holiday, but they weren't sure. So, we'll see. In a way, it would be fun to just be the three of us. New traditions, no odd dynamics. We'll see what happens.
It's probably in my bedroom closet, which appears to have mice lurking in it. I have a large, walk-in closet which is not the tidiest room in my house. In addition to my grandfather's WWII footlocker, I have everything I've saved from high school and college, several boxes of photos, tons of notebooks, folders, purses... anything I don't want to get spoiled or musty in the basement. Which is a lot. I have a large wicker picnic basket where I squirrel away gifts for people... I made the mistake of planning a rather elaborate, homemade Advent calendar for Max, which involves a little gift bag with some small item attached to a string with clothespins. I bought some of the little items before we went to Florida and stuck them in this basket in the closet. When I went to assemble the Advent calendar bags, I discovered some small mammal (probably in the rodent family) had EATEN about five of the candy items. Yuck. Mice in my kitchen drawers was one thing: mice in my CLOSET in the room I SLEEP in is quite another.
Max asked if we could do Christmas stockings this year, and someone among the adults said yes. This adult didn't know about the Advent calendar scheme and must have forgotten that we've also given our child a little something for the eight nights of Hannukah. I was not sorry when my family stopped doing Christmas stockings. Not only was there the year my parents stopped buying my stocking gifts yet forgot to tell my husband (grrrr) but it also saved about $50 in unncessary items. However, Max has heard of the joys of stockings from his friends and felt he was missing out on an important tradition (apparently Max was told that you get to open stockings while parents are still sleeping and that apppealed to him). In my family of origin, we opened stocking gifts while waiting for my grandparents to arrive from PA. I've heard other friends say stockings are just for kids... I bought three stockings, assuming the three of us would revive the "tradition."
It looks like my little family may be on our own for Christmas this year. My sister is uneasy about traveling to VT with their toddler, and my folks are always concerned about the weather. And, as we know from reading my father's newspaper columns, he hates our guest bed. This would be the first Christmas I haven't spent with my family in my whole life. There was one year my sister was in Europe, and three Christmases before she was born, but other than that, we've always been together. It is weird and kind of sad to think we might not be gathering at all. I invited my folks, thinking they wouldn't want to be alone on another holiday, but they weren't sure. So, we'll see. In a way, it would be fun to just be the three of us. New traditions, no odd dynamics. We'll see what happens.