Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Wishing all of you a very lovely holiday. Eat, drink, be merry…

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When I was decorating the Christmas tree while Comcast set us up with a phone line, Internet, cable, all that grand stuff that keeps us, uh, connected, I was in Christmas-mode, decorating the tree, wrapping presents…Bub was upstairs doing some unpacking and was okay with not decorating our tree. It made for some quiet time to reflect on memories of decorating our tree when I was growing up. My family would go out together, pick a grand tree, go home, put on carols, and then my sister and I would go to town with the ornaments after Mom and Dad put on the lights and put it in the spot in the house where they wanted it to be shown off.

So as I decorated my little tree, I thought, something’s missing…That little person, whether it be a boy or girl, or some day both, with a sparkle in their eyes and a silent smile on their faces, they’d hang Santa or an angel on the tree branches with pride.

Someday soon I hope to create those memories. Memories of a family. The reality of that life comes alive in this house.

Merry Christmas. And without further ado, our tree! Our camera needed to be charged, so you get the blurry phone pic. But you get the gist.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas

So we’re growing closer to D-day as my work friend likes to say.

We made a ton of progress last night with packing. All that’s left are the items we need day-to-day like soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, sheets, um, the bed, hair products. There are my brown boots that don’t give me a hard time when I wear them, my basket of knitting…since I don’t ever really knit but would like to, and then a bunch of breakables in the kitchen.

Bub moved the sofas so that they face each other closely and hover near the remaining stray empty boxes.

There is dust and there are bunnies and there are also the turtles who must wonder what’s going on.

We have one final item regarding the Christmas cards. Oh, and we’re about 10 cards too short on supplies. But no big deal. They’re the least important people anyway. Kidding.

Tomorrow I’ll work a half day after we do a final walk through of our house. Then we’ll close. And we’ll release an old man of his childhood residence. Together Bub and I will begin a flood of new memories.

I think that although it is strange to be moving during such an off-season that the fact that it’s Christmastime is helping. The XM carols, the decorations I see as I drive my long commute home. To think that this time next week I’ll be working my last day of 2007 and have a mere 15 minutes to trek to and from our new house to the office sounds so nice.

I’m a bit anxious about settling and decorating. I like getting things done, crossed off my list, never to be thought about again. But we move in Saturday after an afternoon of cleaning tomorrow and we will not have yet steamed off the drab wallpaper or torn down the 60’s drapes. In time, these things will get done. I want to get a feel for the space first. We moved into our condo after painting every inch of it. It was a little rushed towards the end. But since it was small, it was doable.

Not that our house is a McMansion, no, it’s rather a cozy little abode that we are so excited to make ours, but all I wanted was to be home for Christmas. Fitting in renovations and painting would have interrupted the moving chain of events. And so we will be home for Christmas, we will be.

So I’m signing off until next week. Because I won’t have a chance to write sooner and because, well, our Internet will be disconnected and I won’t be at work either.

So until then, belt out some carols, drink some egg nog if you like it, and shop ’til you drop–but sneak in a fun gift for yourself. And if you live near where I do–good luck with the fluffy white stuff coming our way.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good girl all year. Ahem. And I’d like to put in my request for a couple, I mean just a few, things. K? Thanks.

OK, so we just bought a house–no thanks to you, Santa, because how can you fit a house inside of a house’s chimney and then tuck it under a tree? And since our current home has no chimney, I do think you owe us some extra goodies for not being able to properly visit us the past three and a half years. K? Thanks.

I never said I was Martha Stewart, Santa, but I certainly like her Web site and magazines. This girl never ever buys magazine subscriptions for herself. Can you help a domestic-wannabe-diva out?

I do love my Anthropologie apron that my dear friend gave to me at my bridal shower, but I’m sure the other home goods they sell would do just fine on our wood floors and in the three bedrooms I need to decorate. I wouldn’t mind a cute little dress to wear on New Year’s Eve, either. I hear they have some pretty fab stuff. I mean, I know they do. This is where this girl likes to get her shopping spree on. After all, a new year means new clothes, right? You wouldn’t want me shopping at a less-than-stellar boutique since we’re now broke from putting a down payment on the house. K? Thanks.

Now that we have a gynormous screened in front porch and a cute ‘lil deck to play in when the weather turns warm that means…lemonade! And entertaining! And barbeques! But wait. We don’t have one of those things to cook burgers and hot dogs and therefore we have nothing to serve the potato salad with. That’s right, Santa, make us yearn for summer with a new grill! K? Thanks.

I don’t want to act like a gift-grubber, Santa, really, so please just give as many toys and homes to those who are in need of them and who are alone this holiday season. K? I’d even let you not get me a grill if it meant you gave millions of toys to children out there hoping for shiny somethings under the tree.

We’re pretty bummed about not being able to attend that wedding in Anguilla that we were pleasantly surprised and honored we got invited to. So in lieu of that please help us save, save, save our pennies again so that we may be able to go on a nice little trip in ‘08 that doesn’t trump the Italy honeymoon, but maybe involves some sun, beaches, swimming, shopping, and a tad bit of camping and hiking (to please my Bub).

Oh, and Santa, when I was a little girl many years ago, wishing upon a star, smelling Christmas in the night, wishing with all my might as I attended party after event after get together solo, sans my love…Santa, thanks for my husband. He’s the best gift under the tree each Christmas. And the best gift every day.

K? Thanks.

Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

I’ve been doing some soul searching lately and I haven’t enjoyed it.

I’ve been complaining, whining, bossing, and acting like a plain old snob.

I think I’m in a rut.

I think the holiday bug has bit me, but in a I-must-be-obsessive-compulsive-and-get-all-this-stuff-done-so-that-we-can-enjoy-the-holidays mood. I’ve been barking at Bub, freaking myself out that after Bub’s Christmas party, the night before we close, that we’ll be all holiday-cute and stuffing boxes with newspaper-wrapped items until dawn instead of snuggling in our warm bed and celebrating that we’re moving! and to our first house! and yeah!

Last week I emailed several friends and family members to help us move in 10 days, a mere 10 days before Christmas and the response? Overwhelmingly positive. I don’t get it. Ask me to do that for someone else and I would have laughed at the computer screen and told Bub, are they for real?

So for this I am grateful, but I don’t know what it is about my ‘tude that is making me this way. I think I’m stressed.

So, moving on to more stress. What the hell do I buy my sister? She is not a girly-girl, her birthday is in a little over a week and the best I can do? The best I can do is think that a set of knives is a good gift.

Someone set me straight.

See, my sister lives in her condo and is a bonafide work-aholic. That is fine and that is what her work is all about–the client–and deadlines–and I could never do it because you need to know math. And so yeah. I thought knives would be a good gift because we went and carved pumpkins before Halloween at her place and she said she had this one crappy knife aside from a kit she bought. She needs some home love. Knives could help, right?

And the funniest part is? Bub thinks knives are OK for her gift too. Um, can you imagine if we go through with this and get her knives?

This gets better. So we decided on a Restoration Hardware gift cert for Bub’s parents. They are doing some remodeling and Bub’s mother told me how she really likes the store, so we think this is a great gift idea. Except apparently I go haywire with gifts (I know, I am about to purchase knives, but go with me here) and Bub’s mom is all like we’re asking for no gifts or to spend no more than $25. They are sweet, and all like, you just bought a house so please don’t concern yourself with buying gifts. But hello? You can buy like 2 coffees at Starbucks and a piece of gingerbread and go over that amount. So we decide to get a gift cert for Bub’s mom and dad thereby making it $50 ($25 for Mother-in-Law and $25 for Father-in-Law). I still think this is too little so we think that getting a small something else as a joint gift will complete the giving.

So what do we get? I don’t want to get something geared towards one gender more than another or else it’s not a joint gift and so at least three times Bub has suggested that we get…. socks (as in the things you put on your tootsies) as a gift.

Hi Mother-in-Law, how are you? Oh, yes, enjoy the gift certificate, complete with your socks. We got you the special white kind. We didn’t want to go over the maximum amount, so no gold-toe brands were purchased.

Although the woman who thought I was preggers earlier this year? She bought me socks for Christmas last year.

I won’t knock them though, they are pretty nice.

Sigh…

I got a lot done today at work and during my lunch break. All gifts are set and wrapped. I haven’t yet packed for our journey to MD tomorrow. I also need to eyeball ingredients and familiarize myself with the Christmas dinner recipes Bub and I have offered to prepare as we enjoy cooking. It may seem strange since we’re going somewhere for Christmas and why would we, the journeying guests do the cooking? Well, it’s just worked out that way and I’m fine with it. It keeps me busy, keeps my tummy happy, and allows me to contribute to the in-law household!

I also need to clean the car, check the fluids–yay, oil. Yay, gas. And hopefully a trip to the gym can happen since we’ll be planted on our butts for 8 hours.

So…I’m tuckered out here and signing off until I don’t know when. I should be able to post something between tomorrow and Tuesday, but just in case:

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!

Love,
Ripe

Santa Wish List Item #1

So I’ve been doing some thinking about what I want for Christmas, well, because it’s coming up soon.

And I’m obsessed with the idea of mp3’s mainly because I don’t have an ipod and the closest thing I’ve ever done with digital music is click on a song that bub purchased from itunes on the computer. I know, I’m like a little granny.

But now that we are back into our gym groove and I’m *going* more, my dinky little arm-band walkman (thanks, sis!) with about 2.1 stations on it (ones that come in without static, that is) and the fact that I didn’t even have a discman–and the walkman I retired before my armband radio was true to the walkman form: it was a cassette player, makes me think it’s high time I caught up with the 2000 era and get with the program.

My old job allowed me to commute via the train and so many people had their ipods on. I wasn’t getting the big deal–what’s wrong with reading in silence? Now that I have XM radio in my car–purely because it came with it or else I probably wouldn’t have opted to sign up–I can’t imagine a measley few stations on the radio with the only other option being to listen to CDs. Perhaps if I had an mp3 player I wouldn’t need to think twice about XM; it would be a moot point.

So I’m doing some research into what player I want. I’m sure many would think it’s a no-brainer: just get an ipod, but I want to do some research and really understand what it is that I’m starting to obsess about…