Christmas Countdown #3 Christmas Craziness which I am partaking in

Christmas Fact #3:   Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch conservationist, banned Christmas trees in his home, even when he lived in the White House. His children, however, smuggled them into their bedrooms.

It is so easy to get through life sometimes it scares me. And it's so funny how life makes the 'hard' decisions for us at times. Case in point....due to some turmoil taking place in a group which I help founded and built from the ground up I will *not* be making the Christmas gift which I had planned to give to each member of the group, commemorating the first year of the group.

You see, I had purchased a box of fuchsia Christmas balls and planned on decorating and personalizing each one for the members of the group, as well as have some other handy-dandy little gifts for them at our Christmas party. But now they are churning up a lot of lies, and petty rumors and causing chaos in the group. (I will go in to this in a different blog entry at some point.) And I was torn about making the gifts or not, and what could I do with these balls if I did not make the gifts. Because I am notorious for chucking out my receipts.

Today as I drove to work, I saw a slip of paper in my car and looked at it. Low and behold it was the sales receipt for these pink Christmas balls. So there it is, the universe presented me with the means to get my money back...and I plan to. Returning the balls I am, and not gifting these people with something special. Life is easier than we think.....at times. :o)

Christmas Countdown fact #2

Fact # 2:     In Portugal, the traditional Christmas meal (consoada) is eaten in the early hours of Christmas Day. Burning in the hearth is the Yule log (fogueira da consoada). The ashes and charred remains of the Yule log are saved; later in the year, they are burned with pine cones during Portugal's thunderstorm season. It is believed that no thunderbolt will strike where the Yule log smoke has traveled.

So here is my Christmas craziness question for the season: If you were discussing the holidays with someone of an 'important' status to you. Perhaps a family member or a friend whom you don't see too often, and you state that this year you are not exchanging Christmas/holiday gifts to the extended list of people you usually do. This can be for a slew of reasons.....maybe you're trying to save money, or perhaps you simply do not need any extra clutter in your home.

In response the person says to you: "oh well, we don't send out gifts because we expect anything in return." And doesn't really listen to your decision not to swap gifts. Perhaps you stress that money is tight and you can not afford to send to everyone you wish to. Perhaps you simply are just trying to sever this ritual which has become less of a desire to do and more of an obligation. At the end of the discussion it is understood no gifts will be swapped.

Then a week or so later you get a knock at your front door and FedEx speeding off and you *know* you haven't ordered anything on-line, to expect delivery. So you bring the package inside and check the shipping information. And lo and behold, this package is from the person which you had the 'no gift exchange' conversation with. What do you do? What do you do?

Do you graciously keep the gift and open it on Christmas morning? Do you send them a gift in return and *oh my!* surprise! It's the same thing which they had sent you? Or do you send the gift back to them unopened with a note saying 'thank you but you know what my wishes were'?

What do you do???

Christmas isn't just for kids ya know............

So I have reverted to a 14 year old girl tonight, when shopping in Wal-Mart with Mom. This is bad, because I was sooooooooo tempted to ask mom to buy me this item for my Christmas gift. Why is this bad, you may ask? BECAUSE. I am an adult. I do not *need* any thing from anyone to acknowledge the Christmas spirit. I really don't. If there is something I want, I can buy it...unless it is something out of my budget range. Which is a lot of things. But my point is....I can buy myself stuff that I want. I told mom that all I *did* want this year was the Hallmark recordable Christmas book. Because that has meaning, and that is something I will cherish forever.

So what is this item that had me regressed to a giggling, crushing 14 year old as I clasped the item to my chest and squealed 'Oh this is SO awesome!'               Here we go:
http://www.amazon.com/Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Spike-Love/dp/B000AQN894

Which then brought me to think about items I would like for Christmas...but again don't have rhyme or reason to ask for them:
http://www.hallmark.com/online/in-stores/recordable-storybooks/?mc=T_S_G_HL_GC_RSBGOOGSCH

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/600-Thread-Count-Embroidered-Sheet-Set-with-Bonus-Pillowcases/5034356/product.html?rcmndsrc=2
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=34323&cds2Pid=35700#logo

 I don't know what web site you can actually purchase Colin, but if anyone has any connections, let me know.

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