I'm either almost done getting ready for Christmas or I'm in the eye of the hurricane. It's strangely quiet here. I think maybe this lull is going to be short, but right now, I'm sitting here after a long walk with Teddy and his best dog friend, Max. He's still dirty, but he's asleep on the couch. In front of me, I have a bowl of tomato soup which I doctored with a bit of cream and bits of Dubliner cheese. When I stirred in the cream, it made a heart shape in the center and the Dubliner cheese gives an occasional mellow tang to the sweet acidity of the tomato.
I'm listening to my favorite Christmas CD, ' A Charlie Brown Christmas' by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. It's mellow and jazzy with just enough melancholy to take the edge off all that manic Christmas music I've been hearing since the day after Halloween.
I know I should tell you about how, on Sunday afternoon, Mike asked me to make small pies for thirteen of his favorite employees and how I managed to shop for it, make a quadruple recipe of pie dough, and work until 12:30am getting them baked and wrapped in pretty cloth and ribbon. I should also tell you how, at 9:07pm that night, Nick came up with four more teachers he needed to give Tully's gift cards to, and how there was one more at 7:34am that he remembered the next morning. Yesterday, after stopping at the grocery store for the second time in a disorganized, sleep-deprived haze, I found that I had put my socks in my pocket and never managed put them on. No wonder I was cold. I met up with Nick at school at lunch time, gave him the last of the cards to sign, and asked him if he wanted me to drop them off in the teacher's mailboxes.
"No Mom," he said leafing through the cards. "I just want to give out these four myself."
"Okay, but if you get in a hurry, just drop them off in the school office," I said. When I pulled out Nick's lunch bag from his backpack after he got home from school, those four cards came tumbling out. Oh man. So I shouldn't tell you about all of that.
I worked hard to put together a package and deliver it to Mike's office by 11:00am so he could mail it for me. He likes taking advantage of the corporate discount. This didn't get delivered either, and instead came home with Mike to be sent tomorrow. To his credit, Mike said that since he had to send it second-day anyway, he might as well send it second-day tomorrow and it would still get there before Christmas. Right. So why was I running around in a rush with my socks in my pocket?
Somehow, I managed to get most of my errands run, take a short nap for sanity, and make an apple pie for Mike because yesterday was his birthday. Later, when we were at dinner, I was almost too tired to enjoy myself. That's what I don't like about his birthday being so close to Christmas. We don't get to linger over him. There's all this Christmas stuff to manage before and after.
Today, I still had to stop by at school with two more gifts for my reading buddies that I'd almost forgotten, yet I'm more relaxed. I still have gifts to buy, gifts to make, a quiet Christmas dinner to plan, but it all seems just a little easier.
To be honest with you, I get a overwhelmed by the frenzy with which we celebrate Christmas It lasts so long and there is such an obligation to give something to every single person that we know. My little secret is that I look forward to Boxing Day. I believe it originated in England, a rebellion for folks who worked hard to make Christmas for other people and wanted a holiday of their own. I can get with that. My Canadian friends say it's a big shopping day, but for me it's a great day to stay at home and relax. I'm free from shopping, running errands, or making calls.
If I go anywhere on Boxing Day, most likely, I'll remember to put my socks on my feet instead of jamming them into my pockets and running out my front door.
Thank you for listening, jb
I'm listening to my favorite Christmas CD, ' A Charlie Brown Christmas' by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. It's mellow and jazzy with just enough melancholy to take the edge off all that manic Christmas music I've been hearing since the day after Halloween.
I know I should tell you about how, on Sunday afternoon, Mike asked me to make small pies for thirteen of his favorite employees and how I managed to shop for it, make a quadruple recipe of pie dough, and work until 12:30am getting them baked and wrapped in pretty cloth and ribbon. I should also tell you how, at 9:07pm that night, Nick came up with four more teachers he needed to give Tully's gift cards to, and how there was one more at 7:34am that he remembered the next morning. Yesterday, after stopping at the grocery store for the second time in a disorganized, sleep-deprived haze, I found that I had put my socks in my pocket and never managed put them on. No wonder I was cold. I met up with Nick at school at lunch time, gave him the last of the cards to sign, and asked him if he wanted me to drop them off in the teacher's mailboxes.
"No Mom," he said leafing through the cards. "I just want to give out these four myself."
"Okay, but if you get in a hurry, just drop them off in the school office," I said. When I pulled out Nick's lunch bag from his backpack after he got home from school, those four cards came tumbling out. Oh man. So I shouldn't tell you about all of that.
I worked hard to put together a package and deliver it to Mike's office by 11:00am so he could mail it for me. He likes taking advantage of the corporate discount. This didn't get delivered either, and instead came home with Mike to be sent tomorrow. To his credit, Mike said that since he had to send it second-day anyway, he might as well send it second-day tomorrow and it would still get there before Christmas. Right. So why was I running around in a rush with my socks in my pocket?
Somehow, I managed to get most of my errands run, take a short nap for sanity, and make an apple pie for Mike because yesterday was his birthday. Later, when we were at dinner, I was almost too tired to enjoy myself. That's what I don't like about his birthday being so close to Christmas. We don't get to linger over him. There's all this Christmas stuff to manage before and after.
Today, I still had to stop by at school with two more gifts for my reading buddies that I'd almost forgotten, yet I'm more relaxed. I still have gifts to buy, gifts to make, a quiet Christmas dinner to plan, but it all seems just a little easier.
To be honest with you, I get a overwhelmed by the frenzy with which we celebrate Christmas It lasts so long and there is such an obligation to give something to every single person that we know. My little secret is that I look forward to Boxing Day. I believe it originated in England, a rebellion for folks who worked hard to make Christmas for other people and wanted a holiday of their own. I can get with that. My Canadian friends say it's a big shopping day, but for me it's a great day to stay at home and relax. I'm free from shopping, running errands, or making calls.
If I go anywhere on Boxing Day, most likely, I'll remember to put my socks on my feet instead of jamming them into my pockets and running out my front door.
Thank you for listening, jb
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