The Eve Before The Eve!

12/23/2013

If you haven't started or finished your Christmas shopping yet - you're running out of time.  This problem of delaying buying gifts is generally a guy problem, but I have known a few women who put off buying until the last minute!  But not this girl - nope, in a normal year (and this one wasn't), I would have started my shopping in August and been finished by October.

Luckily, Benjamin is still young enough that he's not consumed with being particular about his toys.  Oh he has his wants and I believe the gifts we've bought him, will make him very happy.  I know that kids (teens in particular), don't want us parents to screw up (i.e., have an original thought) where their gifts are concerned.  One of the boys would give us the stock number, name of the store, etc.  He did get the dots really close together and it was helpful, but I have always enjoyed receiving and getting surprises.  That's where the fun really is.

Tomorrow's paper will be hefty filled with the after Christmas sales.  We no longer wait until Christmas is actually over, before hitting the consumer over the head with sales.  In today's paper there are full page ads for perfume from Macy's, some new phone (at least I think that's what it is). Shop at Bloomingdales and get some bright colored "puffer" jackets for only $295 - what a bargain!  And if you shop now until Christmas Eve at 6:00 pm at Macy's, which promises to give you 30-75% off and lots of clip coupons at the back of the paper giving you more holiday dollars!  What a deal.  All you have to do is gather up the strength to get in the car, fight for a parking place, weave your way around other shoppers and then find a salesclerk to ring up your purchases.  Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the day - NOT!

For Jeff and I, we've celebrated 39 Christmases together.  Some years were obviously better than others and some are permanently etched in my memory.  Worst memory?  Receiving toilet bowl cleaner from my mother-in-law.  To be fair she meant well, she was selling Shackley products and thought their cleaner was the best ever.  I know now many years later she wasn't trying to send me some kind of message about the condition of my toilets - she just thought it was a great product.  I tried to be gracious about my gift, but that was a tall order.  Jeff had to work that Christmas and by the time I got to my parents' house, I opened the front door and threw the toilet bowl cleaner inside.  Jeff knew that I was (please fill in whatever adjective you fill is appropriate)   ........ and after he talked to his Mother, I never received another house cleaning product!

The gift that Jeff gave me one or two years after we had been married, was my first antique curio cabinet.  He had taken the cabinet to his mother's house and after all the gifts had been opened and papers were strewn all over the floor - he suddenly remember that there was one more gift.  The cabinet was so beautiful (and for the record it still is), I cried - a lot.  The inside of the cabinet is moire silk and is beautiful.  I occasionally open up the cabinet just so that I can inhale the lingering smell that I can only describe as age.  I have a vivid imagination and can only imagine how many other women owned this beautiful cabinet.  

There was one other gift and I can't remember if it was an actual Christmas present for my Dad or was given to him shortly afterwards.  It was an all expense three week trip to England and Scotland for my Dad and I.  Jeff gave it to Dad as a thank you for paying off an outstanding debt from my first marriage.  Dad and I had a week in London where we indulged in day tours and fish and chips!  And because Dad was a huge stamp collector we even traveled by tube to the Post Office - a stop not made by too many tourists.  The next two weeks we were on a tour bus with what turned out to be a lot of Australians and I can promise you that Dad had an amazing time.  Every night when we stopped for the night, Dad went to the hotel pub and had some ale with the other old men and they got to relive the war with the stories getting bigger and bigger, depending on how many ales were downed.  It was a wonderful trip and Dad and I had such a good time together.  Thank you Jeff for giving me this special time with Dad. I will never forget the trip even if I live to be a hundred.

So today will be relaxing for me.  No one is coming to our house, so I don't have to run around frantically dusting or pushing dust bunnies under the sofa!  I have two more presents to wrap and tomorrow Jeff and I will make the dishes that we are going to bring to Andrew's house on Wednesday. We're bringing ham, cole slaw and cherry cheesecake. I have already given to Stacey this new wine slush in a box kit - you add wine and water to the mix in a zippy bag, smush it and freeze.  What you end up with is a grown up slushy, which is quite good. I'll have to be careful not to drink too much because it probably isn't a good idea with the medicines I'm taking.

Okay by now you're cup of coffee must be empty, because I know mine is.  Have a great day, filled with what you have to do - or even better - what you want to do!

P