Sunday, November 18, 2012

No Topic Does Not Mean Boring

I apologize for my absence lately. I was so sure that NABLOPOMO would be helpful to my writing more often, and I suppose, in terms of how often I post, it has. But it's not like I'd win the award for posting every day or anything.

This is going to have to be some random, stream of consciousness post I guess, since I don't really have a topic.

I'm already planning for Christmas. We aren't Rockefellers so we are going to have to budget a bit and all, which can put a damper on things when you go off all excited and half-cocked like I do, and then realize that you can't actually buy your child everything you'd like to - but I think that's just normal and makes for a creative strategy. For one thing, I'm already thinking of ways to decorate and give gifts that are inexpensive and awesome but that won't break the bank or kill Alice (since everything needs to be eaten apparently).

One of the traditions that my family began a few years ago is drawing names for Christmas. This totally saves money. But my sister and I were commiserating that it's not as much fun as when we would buy a gift for everyone. Mainly because we find it entertaining and fun to be like, oooohhhh....what would be a good gift for so-and-so, and then get that. It was like a treasure hunt. Some people are not like us, and so drawing a name is easy. And it does save us a TON of money, better spent on things like college funds and rent. But after years of finding something for everyone (we didn't spend a ton of money or anything on each person, it could be something as simple as a cute hat or chocolate we know that person loves), it feels almost Grinch-like to NOT look for everyone. Which is why having a child is going to be awesome, because I am hoping she will not be a Grinch and I will have a companion throughout the year who will be like "Daddy would LOVE this! It's on sale now, let's get it and save it for Christmas!" And of course, I will do that for her. Hopefully, we will manage to afford a sibling or two for her or all my Christmas gift giving energy will make her spoiled.

Other thoughts: Christmas isn't just about giving gifts. We have already begun the tradition (Nick and I) of having a nice dinner together as a "gift" to each other. Usually we eat out and get dressed up. That's the fun part - we get dressed up, we spend time together and we eat good food. We also always donate a book or two to Child Start or whoever Barnes and Noble is involved with - Alice has already donated a book this year. We plan on teaching her to put change in the Salvation Army buckets and to put a can or two or more of food in baskets for food banks. And of course, to pick out a toy for the Angel Tree (or the equivalent).

I am so excited to start our own family traditions with Alice and introduce her to traditions from both Nick and I's families too. Christmas Lights, and Christmas music, and hot cocoa. Decorating. Baking cookies. Waiting for Santa. None of these are of the give or get category and are things I LOVED and still LOVE about Christmas. (Maybe waiting for Santa, but it's really the anticipation, not the get part). You'll notice I don't add going to church anywhere there. Personally, I still miss hearing the choir sing on Christmas Eve mass. I miss walking in the cold to get to church at night, and enjoying the stars, and knowing that we'd get to sing, and then going home to open ONE present and talking with my sister about when Santa would come. But we're letting Alice choose when she's an adult about religion and her beliefs so we won't be doing that right away. And then, only if she gets curious and asks to go. But this is definitely the time of year I actually MISS being Catholic. I think some of it is wrapped up in good childhood memories. Okay, all of it is. Alice will have a ton of other traditions that will influence her later in life. So I'm comfortable with that particular decision. Still, Catholic mass at Andale on Christmas Eve was the BEST time to be Catholic.

What's really nice (and somewhat sad) is that this year we'll be spending Christmas Eve with Nick's family doing their gift exchange and dinner and my family will have a separate day sometime afterwards to do our gift exchange. Which means that on Christmas Day we have no place to hurry up and BE. So we can wake up when Alice does and open gifts at our leisure and take lots of pictures and have a special breakfast together. And then we can have a nap perhaps and get dressed and head over to the Wyant family's Christmas Day lunch or whatever whenever we feel we're ready. Very relaxed. Which is nice when you have an almost one year old.

An ALMOST. ONE. YEAR. OLD!!! WTH?!! How did my tiny newborn become an almost toddler already? Wasn't I just in labor? On Christmas she will be 9 days away from being one. ONE! I can't wrap my brain around that. But that means that I am now in birthday planning mode as well. I still haven't completely settled on a theme, although I'm down to about 4 options. And my husband is no help at all. "What do you think of this idea?" I'll say and he'll sort of blankly say, "Sounds fun." I did get some emotion when I presented the girly-girl, all-pink birthday theme and incidentally, that one made my list get whittled down to four. But I've got the basics down: cake, decorations, guest list, etc. I just have to plug in all the more fun details.

Also - does having a one year old that can (or soon will be able to) walk mean we can set her loose at the park, supervised, run her ragged, and then look forward to her sleeping through the night. Cause that would be pretty awesome. She STILL doesn't consistently sleep well at night. Amazingly, I've relaxed about it because for the most part, I don't feel exhausted anymore and I realize I can't force the issue. She's just who she is, and she already sleeps so much better now that I know things will just improve and pretty soon I won't realize we have been sleeping well for months.

Well...I don't have much else. Enjoy!








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