A Christmas Wish:
What? It's almost Christmas? Are you sure? Have you finished your shopping???
I discovered a long time ago that the people who ask me if I have finished my shopping are always the people who shopped early, wrapped early, and love to talk about it. People like me just want to keep quiet and panic to ourselves. We are easy to recognize because we are wandering through the stores wondering why the shelves are nearly empty.
At one time I shopped early because I had to. I even used lay-a-way for most of my children's toys. Is there even such a thing anymore? It was so nice to pick out everything early and to know it was at the store waiting for me. And I loved to make lists and plan out what everyone was getting. For children, and there were five of them, I liked to see in writing that everything was practically even. My husband and I would go shopping together once every Christmas, and then out to dinner at our favorite restaurant. We called it our Annual Christmas Fight. He was a much more extravagant gift buyer than I was, and didn't really care about trying to make things even. So after our major shopping trip I would get busy and fill in the gaps.
I used to have a little crafts business, and one year I was so busy with shows and orders that he took over most of the shopping. That was interesting. I made sure it never happened again.
But, by nature, I don't even like to think about the actual shopping until after Thanksgiving. Sometimes, even weeks after. Sometimes now.
Time changes families. And families change with time. They are all grown up and we have added spouses and grandchildren. John and I have a blended family with twice as many people. Yes, he also had five children. And we have simplified. We rely on mail order and gift cards. I like to make a few things or it wouldn't seem like the holidays to me. So I have started crafting and shopping. But, please, don't ask me if I've finished. At our house, it's not over til it's over.
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