Leaping back to the previous blog – last night I went to my first (and only) Christmas party of this year that wasn’t for the kids. My friend had a ‘puddings party’. We all had to take a dessert or drink and we therefore ate a lot! There were 18 of us I think (all women)and it was fun (and fattening). The guests included a Sudanese friend and a Russian friend, neither of whom knew what a ‘pudding party’ entailed. They were pleasantly surprised – the Russian thought she was coming to a traditional English gathering while we would all sit around and eat different types of rice pudding!

My husband has discovered that Duplo blocks can be ordered on-line and sent directly to California. The first time he did this, he called our daughter to tell her what boxes to watch for. Then she called me and asked if she needed to send me money for food!!! OK, so he went a little overboard!)

And LindaB – I have a nearly 3 year old boy and I couldn’t agree more – they are the most fun to buy for … and so easy to please!

Tori, I’m so glad you mentioned Madi’s Goodwill shopping—–I don’t feel so “cheap” now. Especially since I know now that I’m recycling and saving the planet. We’re big Goodwill and Salvation Army shoppers around here lately. The country’s biggest outlet mall is about five miles from our house and they have a new Goodwill “high end” shop called “My Fashion Secret”! A lot of their clothes still have the tags on them and there are a lot of designer names on them. Designer names I would NEVER splurge on for myself! But I’ll pay $2.50 for a designer blouse………and $1.25 if it’s the half off color of the day! I don’t have the nerve to do my Christmas shopping there yet. But the day may come….

As for my Christmas shopping, I’ve been out there in the war zone since 10 a.m. this morning and just got home at 10:00 p.m.! And I’m wore plum out! My feet hurt. My back hurts. And my shoulder is killing me. And I’m not done yet. Next year, it’s gonna be gift cards for everyone! I’m too old for this! I did order some things online and that was cool! I ordered several T.D. Jakes DVD’s for my daughter, who is now his biggest fan! I ordered some wooden blocks that have magnets imbedded in them for my 3 year old grandson. They’re made by some “green” company in Hondurus that plants 100 trees for every one they cut down to manufacture these blocks. And the profits are used to feed the children of Hondurus. His mother will like that! And I can’t wait to play with the blocks! And we got him a train set. He was the most fun to buy for this year! Can’t wait to see him open his presents!

We got it in our heads that an ornament with girlfriends initial on it and a gift card would round out the present perfectly. Unfortunately,
her name starts with a ‘K’ as does every other ‘Kelsey,Katie, Kenna, Kimberly,Kristin,etc.’ in
the area…so no ‘K’s to be had. We wandered the whole store looking for inspiration. We ended up with a paperweight in the shape of a pink,glittery “K”. I guess it’s a paperweight. At this point I don’t even care. And a Starbuck’s gift card. And a pink and green plastic cup with a “K”. Which meant all this plus the previous purchases no longer fit in the cute purple,glittery gift box. AARGH! Maybe we’ll save some of this junk for her birthday…whenever that is. IF he’s even still dating her by then.

http://www.plantationpeanuts.com/

I discovered these babies a few years ago when someone sent them to me. Now I just click and send. I especially send them to the siblings who say “Oh, please don’t get us anything.” Yeah, right. And then they RAVE about the peanuts and how they look forward to getting them every year.

I’ve been running since Thanksgiving…and we threw in a wedding (son) on December 30th. Not much going on here!

Most shopping is done and wrapped, only two presents left to buy, but since they are being given after Christmas it’s not a huge rush to go out and get them right now. There is one other present for a certain 11 year old, that if it comes in to the store before Christmas I will have to pick up, but for that I will have my husband drive me over, slow down while I leap from the car, dash in, pay and dash out again in the time it will take him to drive around the block. At least that’s how I see it going down, if that actually happens remains to be seen.

And now, the rest of the story….

Last night I realized that I had nothing in the house to eat. Not that I needed anything to eat, mind you, as I had eaten plenty during the day, but still. I thought about running to the store, but did not want to change out of my ratty clothes. And then I remembered – I bought my sister-in-law chocolates for Christmas! And though I am ashamed to admit this, I must confess that I eventually tore open the gift packaging and ate a couple (okay, many) candies. But after all that sugar, I really “needed” something more. And then I remembered – I bought a box of assorted nuts as a gift, too. I am very, very ashamed. But I tore open the gift packaging and ate a couple (okay, lots and lots of) nuts. Sigh!

So now I have to go Christmas shopping again. I sure never expected that one of the crazy last-minute shoppers would be me!

As for all the food – we’re going to do that in about 20 minutes time. A friend is coming to babysit so we can blitz the supermarket while the kids are asleep and it (hopefully) isn’t too busy. It’ll be our first time ‘hosting’ Christmas so it should be fun and we’re bound to forget something essential. It really helps that I have a husband who is awesome at cooking roast dinners.

As much as I’ve appreciated spending every Christmas for the last 33 years at Mum and Dads’ (and being at their church). We are very excited about having Christmas at our house and being with our Church family as well as the biological lot this year!