Tick tick tick. Time is just ticking by and Christmas is getting closer and closer. I’ve done a bit of shopping on the world wide interweb, but I’ve barely put a dent in it. Every year Christmas makes me crazy. Or shall I say that I make myself crazy. I have this thing in me where I obsess about getting people the absolute perfect gift – something they need and want but didn’t even know they needed or wanted. Something so original and so thoughtful that the recipient instantly knows exactly how much I care for and think of them. In short, the impossible gift. Especially when you’re on a budget, which is every year, and even more so when you’re on a very strict, very small budget that allows only for family and children with most of them getting gifts that cost around $20. And I can assure you that gift nirvana is impossible for twenty bucks. I’d love to just make people things, but my craftiness is squat and my appreciation of anything I were able to make with my non-existent craftiness is even lower. So you see my plight. Normally I end up buying just anything at the last minute because there’s no time left to find what I was looking for. And after the gift is opened I start saying “Well, I was thinking of buying you THIS or THAT but then I thought you might have THIS and I couldn’t find THAT so I ended up getting you this DOODAD. Hope it’s okay.” They say the thought is what matters and I just really want to let people know that I not only thought about their gift but I AGONIZED over it – even if they ended up just getting a coffee mug.
Tuesday Noah and I went to Target to buy some baby proof Christmas ornaments. No glass balls on hooks for us this year. We’re going plastic on string. And I’ve decided to change our predominately green, red and gold tree with white lights into a rainbow of colors including royal blues and hot pinks. I must be off my rocker. I also found a very cute berried wreath to put on the front door, but when I got home I realized it cost me $29.99 and not the $9.99 that was on the label on the hook it was hanging. It certainly helped to explain why my bill was a lot bigger than I had anticipated. Needless to say the lovely thing is going back.
Yesterday we met my mom in Montgomeryville for some shopping. I asked for clothes this year because I’m tired of rocking the hobo look around the house. Problem is that I am a woman who tries on 30 things to find one things that fits, and therefore I’m not the easiest to shop for. And then there is my style pickiness – which I find pretty easy to describe. I wear casual, unornamented clothing in black, gray and earth shades of brown, orange, burgundy and green. Because of my bust line I look best in V necks and because of my ungirliness I feel most comfortable in pants. Simple right? Not always. So my mom, smart woman that she is suggested that she take me to pick out my own clothes and then wrap them so I could feign surprise on Christmas day. Problem with that is that I am a HORRIBLE person to shop with. For one, I like to shop alone, and two, when I try on clothes that don’t fit in front of mirrors that make me look pale, blotchy and shiny I get both sad and bitchy. So super-fun for Mom who deserved better. Especially since she had to have my Grammy come watch my terminally ill step-father so that she could leave the house. But I think chasing the cheerful and adventurous boy around the Old Navy and the mall helped to reclaim the afternoon. I don’t need to be told that he’s got remarkable spirit-healing effects.
7 comments:
you always buy people nice gifts. but that thought is lost on you. sigh.
I hate, HATE, when I buy something that I thought was one price and turns out to be way more than that. if it makes you feel better, I saw some of those red berry thingies at macy's and the small wreath was $60. so it's kind of a bargain. (and that shows you why I never shop at macy's unless I have crazy great discount coupons that I can use on top of clearance prices.)
god, I love new clothes. I wish I had a personal tailor so that everything fit, though. I can't buy pants at old navy because they are too long. and very few of their pants come in "short".
I hate buying clothes too. I think that everything looks just wrong one me, and I buy simple stuff too. I prefer to go shopping alone because it puts me in a funk. Luckily, I have grown accustomed to Ethan going along, but once in a while I get out of control and drive him crazy.
We stopped buying presents, so I don't have that worry any more. Christmas comes at such a bad time of the year for most people. When I was still a student I would always run out of money right before Christmas. So I would have to buy cheaper stuff than I wanted to for my family.
I could have written this EXACT same entry--almost word for word. I'm feelin' ya sista'
I have given up on trying to get the perfect gift and just do unique gifts. This year most of the women in my family are getting hand made jewlery and the men? Well, heck if I know.
I feel you on the shopping, and shopping with my mom is even worse because she has much more "mature" taste than I do so everything she picks out makes me look frumpy.
I get exactly the same way when I shop for clothes. I'm sure your mom understands.
Oy vey, it all gives me a headache. Maybe that's why I SUCK at Christmas presents. Honestly, Ly and I are usually too poor to do anything but send cards, and get each other Christmas.
I just need to start the Christmas before I plan on giving presents.
May the force be with you in finishing your shopping.
The last two years I have been the Christmas elf. Single, unattached female with a full time job at a bank who loves to spoil those she loves...went a little crazy. This year with school and the mystery ick that has kept me out of work for a week, Christmas will be scant at best. Maybe I'll actually get started this weekend.
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