Well, the holidays are upon us, and as usual here at the funny farm, we find ourselves utterly unprepared. At 5 days out, we have no tree, no presents and some very vague plans for a holiday meal. We’re last minute people around here in general, but we’re even more off the ball than usual this year, thanks in part to the 2 feet of snow mother nature decided to grace us with on this crucial final weekend. I haven’t started to panic—or maybe I’m beyond panic. After six years of holidays with the great procrastinator, I’ve learned that things always come together somehow. We are managing to inject a little holiday spirit into our snowbound little menage. They’re cranking the Christmas tunes on Bluegrass Country. Hank and I are taking advantage of our snow days to cook up some gingerbread cookies. But the uncompleted (unstarted really) shopping is bringing me down.
I have to admit, until last weekend I was hardly thinking about the end-of-year holidays. This is mostly because my precious girl happened to be born 10 days before Christmas and this year, I got it in my head that I had to throw her a Bollywood-themed birthday party (inspired by the super cute outfit the world traveling Tatie Misha brought back for Coco from India last year). The party was a fabulous: I got to wear a sari (on loan from the world traveling Auntie Amy) and whipped up some truly kickass curries. However, it took up a lot of the energy (and cash) that would normally have gone to Christmas legwork.
As usual, I’m kicking myself for not just taking care of everything on Amazon on cyber Monday like smart people do. And feeling a little guilty because my kids won’t be getting the perfect presents I had envisioned. But really, the last minute shopping thing is no big deal. We like to keep it simple. With our tight budget and my anti-consumerist streak, we don’t tend to go nuts with the pressies. Christian and I have pretty much stopped gifting each other after a few years of failed attempts. As you may have learned from my previous post, we don’t watch TV so the kids aren’t clamoring for a bunch of shit they’ve been brainwashed into thinking they need. Henry’s inspiration, of course, comes from stuff he’s seen at other people’s houses. Usually the demands are fleeting but he’s been pretty persistent in asking for a remote control digger. Well, my darling, ask and you shall receive (as long as it’s available at Target on 12/22…). Actually, I think the main problem with that one is that I really have no clue what he’s talking about… The other request was a swingset (a few of his little friends have those fancy wooden models that dot the exurban landscape (they’ll only set you back a couple thou…). Good luck with that one, kid.
As for the Bollywood princess, I’m happy to say she still has no clue and no desires. Her needs, her wants are met (mostly by me which is as satisfying as it is exhausting). I’m talking about love, fresh air, nourishing food and, lately, conversation. That’s really what it’s all about for her. Although she is kind of digging the pink Barbie laptop she got from her little BFF for her birthday…Next year, she can take me out of the loop and email her list directly to Santa.
