The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
I haven’t had much time for anything lately except for spending money and drinking. Does that mean it is the holidays, or is this just the norm for me? I am afraid to even answer that. Sunday comes, I sit and look at my calendar for the upcoming week and think, shit, I have so much going on! My work party, my husband’s work party, girls holiday gift exchange, Santa on our street block party, my highschool girls party, and just to add, throw my son, Caden’s birthday in there too. I mean, no wonder people are insane this time of year. We all bitch and complain that we aren’t invited or included in parties and festive things. We want to do it all. We all bitch and complain when we look at our calendar and don’t have one free second to wrap a gift or hang an ornament, let alone pay attention to our kids. I try to find a bit of peace and calm and a place of balance which seems unattainable this time of year.
It is the most wonderful time of year, truly. I do love the holidays. I love all the decorating and the festiveness that leads up to Christmas day. Still hate the elf on the shelf. I almost burned him the other night having him up on a lampshade… Now he has a black ass and I told my kids Santa must have given him some coal! I always promise myself and my husband that I won’t spend a lot of money on the boys. I don’t know why I even say it, because it happens every year. It’s really not my fault ;) Nothing is cheap, and even the cheap stuff adds up. The lists the kids come up with are ridiculous. I showed them on youtube - thank you youtube - what a speak and spell was.. Told them I am bringing it back. Although I think I would have nightmares hearing that voice. When did asking for a new IPHONE and computer, customer scooter and professional drone become the norm? My oldest sons list seems overly reasonable, with action figures from different series he loves. I thought reasonable until I saw that one figure cost $187.00. Of course these are all vintage collectables. Shoot me. I guess Caden’s plush’s are looking better by the minute. I have a love hate with them. Who doesn’t love a cute stuffed animal? When you have a hundred of them, my love fades very quickly. They are big a bulky and hard to store.
My mom makes herself insane during the holidays every year. She wants to get all her kids and grandkids everything they want. It is becoming more about the grandkids, which is what is how it should be. Let’s face it mom’s - we don’t need anything… we buy ourselves everything we really want anyways. My mom will call me asking for the kids lists. I give her what I know and then she wants more. “Can you just buy things as you see them, and if you look, and think you have to many of something for one kid, I will buy it from you?” I get it, kids are hard to shop for. Boys, they don’t want clothes, and when they are out of the toy stage, it turns into big things, computers, bikes, surfboards, video consoles and phones. The best is when my boys tell me they want to change things off their list. I give them a F-off look everytime they ask. I have a rule, once it is on the list, it stays. I have given this list to every relative… and then I get pissed because I think… are they going to be upset opening their gifts now, if it is not what they want??? Christmas…. Is this what it is about?
Okay, so can we discuss teacher gifts??? I of course love my kids teachers, for the most part. Especially Caden, with all the special teachers and helpers he has. But seriously, I am broke. I spend more money on teachers gifts then my own family. Caden’s list of teachers alone total 10. His teacher, his aide, special education teacher, case carrier, speech, OT, school psychologist, outside tutor, his cognitive behavior therapist, educational therapist, outside OT, and then there are all the people that have worked with him on going who we love, like Mrs. Kaycie who has done all his Psych testing. That is just Caden. Kyle has about the same. And now that Kyle is at this amazing extremely small private school, we are all like family - so I have to give them gifts. Thank god for Maguire! In the past I have gotten creative and given succulents, or homemade cookies in really cute containers. I just can’t this year. So I did script for the first time. Script is so much easier, but it is less thoughtful… or is it? It is money in their pocket instead of something they might not want, right? It’s the thought that counts… I keep telling myself this…
In the midst of all the regular crazy, my parents are moving and I have been their realtor. Being a realtor and selling your own home is known to make you nuts. So me, being the agent and having my mom (the realtor) as my client, let’s just say, she has lost her mind a little. I love you mom! And to top it all off, after a 2 ½ year process of figuring out if we can remodel our own home, it is happening. We are moving out right after the new year. So boxes and shit adorn my house, clutter everywhere. Those that know me, know my OCD, ADD, ADHD (I’m sure the list goes on and on) would not allow my house to look how it does. I am doing the best I can. I even let my kids pick out my tree this year, without me! I mean, talk about losing it! HA - kidding… kind of.
I have learned so much this past year, and have really tried to embrace what is important in life. I used to stress over getting the perfect tree. Yes, my husband and I both were the couple in the lot, spinning every tree around to look at every angle for an imperfection. I have learned that the beauty is in the imperfections. My kids have taught me that. No one, not a thing, is perfect. Who wants to be perfect, perfect is boring. So our tree this year is tall and skinny, and it stands proud. I didn’t have enough lights to go around the entire tree this year, and I didnt’ even care. I tried to care for a minute, but this year, it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter any year. My kids helped decorate the tree, and they think it is beautiful. They will think it is even more beautiful when I get around to wrapping their gifts and putting them under the tree to fill them with excitement and wonder.