Five Days and Counting
by Stephanie Black
Aarrgh! Can it really be only five days until Christmas? It’s amazing how when you’re a kid, December lasts about a year and a half. When you’re Santa, December lasts about twenty minutes.
So this is going to be a short blog.
I’m almost done with the Christmas shopping. Every year I think hey, I should start Christmas shopping early, but I never do. I guess it’s tradition for me to be finishing up in those last few days before Christmas. I’ve got my handy dandy six-column list (for the five kids and my husband). That way I can see which items I’ve purchased and which ones I haven’t. If that list ever falls into the wrong hands, it will be a sad day for Santa.
I tried taking my two-year-old to the mall yesterday. This turned out to be a dumb idea. She would have been fine if it had been a rush in-rush out sort of trip, but I was browsing, which totally doesn’t fly when you’re trying to contain a toddler. She was looking particularly, um, darling that day because in the morning she’d gotten hold of two jars of Vaseline and smeared a bunch of it in her hair. I washed her hair several times (and she hates getting her hair washed now, after some traumatic soap-in-the-eyes episodes), but her hair was still horribly greasy. I wanted to explain to everyone around me that yes, I actually wash my daughter’s hair more than once a year, but see, there was this petroleum jelly issue . . . A mother of my son’s classmate suggested trying dish soap on her hair, which I thought was a good idea—grease-cutting power, you know. I tried that this morning and her hair is looking quite a bit better.
I promised the kids we could go out shopping this afternoon. They’ve got a few things left to purchase as well, so we’ll hope for some rapid success, since we’ve got a narrow shopping window open between all the other commitments for the day—school, visiting teaching, caroling (my thirteen-year-old) and eating dinner with the cops (my fifteen-year old). Then there are those unfinished Christmas projects, the unsent Christmas cards, the unsent present—whoops—better go put the present in the mail quickly—but when all is said and done, everything will work out just fine. And with Christmas Eve on a Sunday this year, that will force me to finish the running around a day earlier than usual so on Sunday we can just relax and focus on the spirit of Christmas. No stores, no lines, no lists--just time to celebrate the birth of the Savior and to enjoy being with my family.
Merry Christmas to all!
Aarrgh! Can it really be only five days until Christmas? It’s amazing how when you’re a kid, December lasts about a year and a half. When you’re Santa, December lasts about twenty minutes.
So this is going to be a short blog.
I’m almost done with the Christmas shopping. Every year I think hey, I should start Christmas shopping early, but I never do. I guess it’s tradition for me to be finishing up in those last few days before Christmas. I’ve got my handy dandy six-column list (for the five kids and my husband). That way I can see which items I’ve purchased and which ones I haven’t. If that list ever falls into the wrong hands, it will be a sad day for Santa.
I tried taking my two-year-old to the mall yesterday. This turned out to be a dumb idea. She would have been fine if it had been a rush in-rush out sort of trip, but I was browsing, which totally doesn’t fly when you’re trying to contain a toddler. She was looking particularly, um, darling that day because in the morning she’d gotten hold of two jars of Vaseline and smeared a bunch of it in her hair. I washed her hair several times (and she hates getting her hair washed now, after some traumatic soap-in-the-eyes episodes), but her hair was still horribly greasy. I wanted to explain to everyone around me that yes, I actually wash my daughter’s hair more than once a year, but see, there was this petroleum jelly issue . . . A mother of my son’s classmate suggested trying dish soap on her hair, which I thought was a good idea—grease-cutting power, you know. I tried that this morning and her hair is looking quite a bit better.
I promised the kids we could go out shopping this afternoon. They’ve got a few things left to purchase as well, so we’ll hope for some rapid success, since we’ve got a narrow shopping window open between all the other commitments for the day—school, visiting teaching, caroling (my thirteen-year-old) and eating dinner with the cops (my fifteen-year old). Then there are those unfinished Christmas projects, the unsent Christmas cards, the unsent present—whoops—better go put the present in the mail quickly—but when all is said and done, everything will work out just fine. And with Christmas Eve on a Sunday this year, that will force me to finish the running around a day earlier than usual so on Sunday we can just relax and focus on the spirit of Christmas. No stores, no lines, no lists--just time to celebrate the birth of the Savior and to enjoy being with my family.
Merry Christmas to all!
Stephanie Black — 12/20/2006 03:30:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Wait... you're Santa? I want the G.I. Joe Mobile Command Center. I've been really good this year.
Dear Rob,
Santa KNOWS if you've been naughty or nice. Just saying you've been "really good" won't help you now if in your heart, you're in Coal City.
Start off by being extra nice to all the authors you know and maybe there's hope for you.
But then I'd be guilty of the sin of hypocrisy! I can never win...
My wife and I get all our shopping done by November, sometimes before Thanksgiving.
Then we spend the next 6 weeks finding more things that our kids will like. We end up with way too much stuff, and in January we're making multiple trips to the DI.
So next year, I'm doing all my shopping on Dec. 24th, at 8:00 PM.
My oldest daughter is a member of the police Explorer post. This week, the department treated the Explorers to dinner out. She had a great time. Yep, my teenager loves chatting with the cops.
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