Getting Ready for Christmas

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There is something in the air. It is a feeling - very secretive, but filled with mounting excitement. It includes a bit of frustration but mostly anticipation and occasionally even delight. My brain is in a whirl, thinking, pondering, planning and waiting. My activities? Shopping, wrapping, sewing, painting... Getting ready for Christmas!

Yes, I know it is a month away. I know Thanksgiving isn't even over yet. But for a few weeks now I've been searching for just the right gifts to please and delight my family come Christmas morning. In a way Steven is easy to buy for because he tells me exactly what he wants, and even sends me links to where they can be bought online, so it would be REALLY hard for me to get the wrong thing. The only problem is that he knows exactly what he is going to get. The kids are a little more difficult. I have to think about what they need (as far as clothes and the like) and about what hobbies they enjoy, what skills they are developing, what kinds of toys and games they like to play with. I have to find a balance between what they will absolutely love, and what I can tolerate in the house. (For example, Peter loves Dora the Explorer movies, but they drive the rest of us crazy!) I have to stay within budget for each of the kids, but at the same time try to get them about the same number of gifts each. This is especially difficult when one child has more expensive tastes than another. Would it be fair if one child got only two really expensive gifts while another got ten relatively cheap ones? Do homemade gifts, made with materials I already have, count against their total?

While I am enjoying the search, I hate shopping in crowds, so I am determined to have most of my shopping done before Thanksgiving, and to avoid stores on weekends as much as possible after that. The problem is that the one child I have yet to do much shopping for is the one who has accompanied me on all my shopping trips thus far. I usually go shopping while the older kids are at school, but I still have Peter with me. He's already seen (and helped pick out) the two things I've gotten for him so far. I need to find a time to finish shopping for him when he won't be with me... which means either ordering things online (and adding shipping and handling fees to his total) or trying to find a free evening when I'm not too tired and Steven is around to babysit so I can go out. It's not impossible, just more difficult. Soon I'll be done. In a few days I can decorate (traditionally the day after Thanksgiving) and then I'll be able to relax and just enjoy the holidays.

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