Holiday Gifts? No!
Fri., December 5, 12:42 PM
As some of you know, I don’t make a big deal out of the holidays. For the full explanation, I guess you have to go back and read Gifts. Last year this grew into a rant that gained some attention. Yes, I prefer to give special birthday gifts rather than holiday generics. And I’ve been stymied once again.
Friday, December 19, is the first candle of Hanukkah. As I’ve always told the children, the candles are more important than the gifts. We will, of course, bend a little when significant others have been brought up with Christmas. But I have to give U.D. a present on the following Monday because that’s her birthday. Just to rub it in, her fiancé, JM, will celebrate his birthday the same weekend. My plan for them is personalized but simple; I can’t afford anything fancier.
Meanwhile, I have found more and more things for which I’m grateful. I tell them to you because I’ve found that reading someone else’s problems makes one’s own easier to bear.
- I’m profoundly grateful that I did all that shopping on Wednesday, since we are expecting lots of wet snow. Even if Husband did request a trip to the bank – no problem – and a stop at the supermarket, which was jammed. But he has to have his devil cakes and marshmallow pies. Fortunately, there were no carts available, and that curtailed his spending; he only bought six boxes.
- I am happy that I can still read. It takes me a lot longer to finish a book, and sitting for too long hurts, and I need my glasses more…but I can still read! Thank God!
- When I opened the garage door, I remembered to be thankful that my shoulder is pretty well healed. And, as a corollary, I am thankful that a medication prescribed for it had no bad effects. According to its ads, it’s contraindicated for some of my conditions; obviously that doctor never even looked at my history of allergies. Jackass!
I mailed a package at the post office early this morning, thinking it would be my one and only trip. (Husband asked to go out after I returned.) And the clerk said, “go home and keep warm. Make soup.” It’s 27 degrees out there. Maybe I will.
