I L.O.V.E. Christmas time. I know some of my friends out there aren't huge fans of the yuletide season (hi Mike!), but I am a huge sucker for this time of year. And birthdays. Why? One reason: gift giving. I love to give gifts. Some would say it's a love language near the top of my list, second only to acts of service. But I am getting off track.
One of the downsides to being an uber-efficient, type-A machine is that I get my shopping done. Early. Not day-after-Christmas-for-the-next-year early, but still with plenty of time to spare. The nieces and nephews have been done since Black Friday. Babies and toddlers are easy. I could get the two little dudes a cardboard box and they'd be entertained for hours. The other babies are too little (or still in utero like baby Abby), so they wouldn't know the difference. But I still do more than a empty box with a little wrapping paper and a bow. What can I say? Being an aunt is pretty rad, and I love spoiling the little peanuts.
In my opinion, the best part of the holiday melee is the shopping. Making the lists. Checking them twice. Buying a gift for you whether you're naughty or nice. Let's be honest - that's Santa's M.O. too. Not to mention the life-risking activity of finding parking at the mall. It's crazy out there.
Because the 6 kids in my family decided we'd rather adopt a family than exchange DVD's and gift cards to the movies with each other for the 8th or 9th year in a row, I didn't have a lot of people left to shop for. As of today, the rest of my list consisted of my dad, the in-laws, the newest foster nephew I have dubbed "the little man," a gag gift for the white elephant exchange, and me (yes, you read that correctly. "me" is the last person on my list).
My younger sister, Jessi (read her fantastic blog here), and I went out this morning and knocked out dad's gift in 5.7 seconds flat. I think. I can't confirm because I left my stopwatch at the...um...ok I don't have a stopwatch. You caught me. We also got the little man some gift action and took care of one part of the in-laws. After that, I went out for lunch with my best friend, Kelsey.
And now for a word from the pages of history...
Kelsey and I have been friends since we were 11. We're talking 15 years and counting now. We've been through a lot together, and we've tried our hands at being architects, dancers, trampoline gymnasts, radio DJs, detectives, and the next great-American writers. All before the age of 15. You can see how well all of that panned out for us. Anyway, when we graduated from high school, she moved to San Jose, CA to go to college. And then she graduated and stayed put. She's been up there for 8 years now, and we always reconnect when she comes home. Usually it consisted of sitting in Starbucks until the baristas (sort of) politely asked us to leave so they could close, which meant that we left smelling of coffee beans and conversation with great friends. Since we've gotten "real" jobs, now we usually meet over a meal and then go out to do other things afterward. Below is a picture of the two of us sitting in the rain at the Ironman Triathlon last month while we waited for her dad to make his second loop through the marathon.
Back to our regularly scheduled bloggy programming...
Kelsey and I took out the rest of the list with relative ease. In-laws? Done. Gag gift for the white elephant exchange? Done and uh-mazing. I think it will be the stuff of legends. I'll post pics later. Kelsey's shopping? Sort of done. Me? Done.
Ok, I suppose I should explain me shopping for myself. All I wanted for Christmas was a plane ticket to go visit Kelsey. Steven granted my holiday wish! So today while we were together, I sat down with Kelsey and showed her when I want to come visit, and then I booked the ticket. Signed. Sealed. Confirmation delivered to my e-mail inbox. Life is good.
Now I sit at home with my yet-to-be-wrapped treasures waiting in the living room. Steven should be home soon, and it feels so good to be done shopping and ready for Christmas. The next couple of days will be filled with family, festivities, and most of all fun. I can't wait!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
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