Holiday Shopping

Buying "inspired gift" can be a challenge. Especially when you HAVE to because it's Christmas.
Yes, I said it, "Christmas". I hope I haven't offended anyone.

On a side note: I always used to say Happy Holidays since not everybody celebrates the same one and last year I remember everybody getting their undies in a bunch over the syntax of how to correctly wish someone general cheery type feelings during a certain time in the colder months of the year. Cripes people! I'm glad that does not seem as big a deal this year.

Anyway, back to inspired gifts... When I was in college I did my shopping all year long because otherwise I could not afford the month of December. So indeed, the gifts I bought were inspired. I'd see something I thought someone would like, I'd buy it and stick a post-it on it and put it in the closet until Dec. People thought I was SO organized to have all my shopping done by October... It wasn't organization as much as financial survival. Which I guess is rather organized.

Shopping then was fun. This year we are relocating RIGHT before Christmas and I'm swamped. If I'd seen this coming, I would have done the college thing and gotten this all out of the way. But alas, here I am in the midst of chaos and virtually no shopping has been done. Partly because I don't want to ship or drag all the gifts to LA... I will have exactly 2 days to shop when we get to LA... the 23rd and the 24th. Crazy!

I almost want to just get everybody a gift card and say, "Go knock yourself out with MY $20" but then I think, I can buy a more cost effective gift and wrap it in a way that makes it LOOK like it's MORE than $20. Then I think, why did I just write that? Now everyone will know my awful little secret. I want to hand make all my gifts and give something with meaning but I'm not sure anyone but my parents would appreciate that.

Well, my kids would dig it. Then they would toss it aside and say, "Sooooo, where's my REAL gift?"

I remember reading about Laura Wilder being thrilled to get a bit of white sugar and a shiny penny in her sock. That was it. A penny and some sugar. The fancy kind. Sugar and a penny, yep. That made her day.

Sure hope I get an iKaraoke for my ipod...

Honey...

if you're reading this... I've got pennies and sugar, so
that ship has pretty much sailed

with Laura in it...

Happy Holidays to you all.