I was planning to be relatively productive today. Do some dishes, go for a walk around town, get my week organized… ok, so not super productive, but I had plans. However, I woke up to a nasty stomach ache and loud wind. I know lots of people accomplish a lot every single day, whether its sunny or just a little windy. But today, I just don’t feel like it. Rather, I feel like being a bit of a suck and hiding out playing toys with my son. What’s the rush? I also had something on my calendar for this evening but I haven’t heard from those involved, so I’m thinking thats off. All the more reason for me to stay squishy and comfy all day!
I don’t want to be a total slacker, so I think I’ll lay out ideas for Christmas gifts today. I know, its sooo early! And whether I have ideas or not, I likely won’t accomplish the shopping until Christmas is close enough to make me sweat. Yet for some reason, I’m sooo excited! Hopefully thinking about it this far in advance will help me come up with awesome gifts without asking people what they want and ruining the surprise.
I’m feeling fairly reminiscent these days for some reason, so I think I’ll recount the preparations for last Christmas. Just one story.
Growing up, my family would all go Christmas shopping together. We’d hit a mall that had two levels, and we’d divide up for about a half hour at a time and then switch levels. We would periodically sneak into the underground parking lot and stash the gifts we had purchased in whatever bag we had marked as ours. Of course, this was when we all lived at home, none of us were married, and we all bought for everyone. Now we’re all married, and we pull names, which make a lot more sense, and we shop separately since none of the siblings live in the same province. Anyway, this isn’t the story I’m dwelling on. Moving on.
I love the concept of all Christmas shopping together. If I need help with an idea for someone else, I’d have someone to bounce ideas off of. So Brady and I have carried it over. We pick a Saturday or two (or weekday if he spontaneously gets a day off work) and set them aside for Christmas shopping, for others and each other. However, this last year, I was sneaky and mean. And smart. I purchased Brady a Nintendo Wii. Early. I knew how badly he wanted one, and I knew that I couldn’t afford one within the budget we’d set for ourselves. So I made it really clear that the Wii was pretty much off the table. He never even asked for it technically, since we knew it was over our budget, but I was such a liar and I built it up like it was something I really wished I could get him. He assured me that it was fine and he would be totally happy with anything I bought him. Maybe we’d get a Wii in the years to come. But I bought him one that I found on Kijiji. And I bought it in November. And then I took him Christmas shopping in December. Twice. He was even gracious enough to take Dekker the entire time. While he shopped and brought gifts down to the car and dragged Dekker’s stroller through womens clothing stores, I window shopped with a latte in my hand. TWICE! I was pretty proud to have pulled this off, but figured I deserved it after having bought him a Wii.
My favorite part of all of this was coming clean, though. The man opened his gift on Christmas day and was sooo thoroughly surprised and happy! And then, and only then, did I tell him what I’d done. Its best to drop that kind of information when the person is really, really happy. He laughed at me and said it was totally worth it.
Of course now, Christmas is coming up again. And this con has been brought up again. And again. I think I’m in trouble. Something tells me I’ll be on Dekker Duty while Christmas shopping this year…