Every year I tell Charlie I'm not going to go overboard with the kids' gifts at the holidays and every year I do anyway. It's not really my intention, it's just that we try to only buy them stuff for the holidays and their birthdays, minus books because I say they don't count, so when I do get to buy them presents it's easy to go a little crazy. This year I swore I wasn't going to do it again, and a few weeks ago told Charlie I was done shopping and listed off the few gifts I got for each of the kids. Except that was a few weeks ago.
I have this problem where I am a little OCD about gift buying. If I know I have to buy something for someone, or have a buying opportunity, it will consume me until I've taken care of it. In the same respect, if I need to return something to the store, I will keep planning out how I can get to the store to return it as soon as possible. Neither one of those is a horrible trait in itself, except that when I go to the store during the holiday season to buy something for someone other than the kids or to return something, I end up buying more.
I can't tell you how many times I've told people over the past three weeks that I'm done with my Christmas shopping, only to buy something the very next day. Not something we need to have, but something I saw that I know Charlie or the kids would love and just can't pass up. I probably have enough stocking stuffers for two stockings for everybody and let's just say it's a good thing that Andy's birthday is only a couple months away and I can save some of his gifts for then.
Today, however, I finished for good. One reason is that we are leaving for my parent's house tomorrow and aren't coming back until Christmas Eve. There isn't time to do anymore shopping. The other is because I bought the last of the stocking stuffers I had in mind and found a perfect gift for Amanda this morning. Unfortuantely, I accidentally left it in a bag on the kitchen counter. She wouldn't see it up there, but Andy is home "sick" from school (he has strep but no fever and barely a sore throat yet still can't go to school) and was standing right by the bag. I don't know that he saw anything, but since this may be the last year he admits to believing in Santa Claus, I didn't think it would be fair to actually give the gift to Amanda from Santa confirming any doubt he has is true. I already have a gift from Santa for her, but this would have been a perfect addition. As I took the gift upstairs and threw it in my closet I cursed the fact that I rarely get any time to myself and would have liked to have this last day of school without prying eyes at home. At that point I knew I had had enough of this holiday season.
So I'm done shopping and, except for two things I bought today, done wrapping the presents. The kids finished school today and I made it through Sarah's party (one bonus to Andy being home is I got to skip his party). Amanda had her little school show tonight, which was nothing like the elaborate shows put on by her previous school, and finished without singing but also without a tear. As we were leaving one of her classmates said good-bye to her and it made me think that maybe she's growing up and isn't a baby anymore, until we got in the car and she threw a huge fit because her paper antlers weren't covering her ears and correctly and "nobody wants to hold my hand". Yep, done with that too.
A couple days with my family and their cousins is exactly what we all need. The kids need to bond and I need a respite from hanging out with them all day. We'll still be in the house together, but they will be fully occupied with their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. I can relax a little. Then we are home for Christmas and then April from New Jersey and her husband and son are coming to visit, another thing that I am so, so excited for, and Charlie will be home for the week.
After that, I'll be ready to start the New Year and get the kids enrolled in some extra-curricular activities and start the craziness all over again.
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