Author Archives: Swistle

Broody and Moody

I’m here to stop myself from going back to my town’s Facebook page, where right now there is a very tiresome yet provoking argument. I’m sure that Michelle doesn’t mean to imply that the only way for people to get information is the way SHE prefers to get information (thanks for yet again replying to a question using only a link to Google, Michelle! Very neighborly of you!), and I’m sure Carol doesn’t mean to imply that the town’s page should only be used for things she personally is interested in (thanks for yet again saying you don’t understand why anyone cares about this, Carol!), but in that case why is this argument happening and why are phrases such as “you people” and “better things to do” being bandied about? And why does it happen that there are people who think it is a waste of time to chat on Facebook, but do NOT think it is a waste of time to criticize others, on Facebook, for chatting on Facebook?

I have already said my piece (despite believing that the absolute best way to handle this would have been to hit “hide conversation”), and it was well-received (more likes than Michelle and Carol are getting, and no one fighting with me about it), so now I need to stop participating while I’m ahead. It helps to remember that theoretically whatever I write can be seen by my clients and their families.

Speaking of which, I am feeling panicky and meh about my job again. I don’t know why it happened. Oh, actually, I think it’s that my schedule changed. One of my main clients decreased her hours and that eliminated a big chunk of mine. So now I’m meeting new clients again, and my schedule is irregular again, and I don’t like either of those things. Anyway, I’m back to feeling bad on work days, and feeling like it’s the wrong job for me, and needing to repeatedly list to myself the reasons why I should stick with it anyway (it’s a good answer for the “What do you do?” question; it’s a good job for immediately increasing hours/paycheck if Something Happened; I believe in the value of the work itself; I wasn’t happy when I WASN’T working, either; probably nothing else part-time and entry-level is going to be any better, and at least I’m over the new-job hurdle with this one; I DO feel good on my way HOME from a shift).

Well. It’s possible some of this is post-holiday blues. It doesn’t FEEL as if it’s connected, but one can only go so many years feeling depressed in January before one is forced to concede that it COULD be part of it. I’m very glad to have something fun planned for this weekend. I’m also glad, despite what I just said about my job, that I’m working today: how I’m feeling right now is how I used to feel a LOT of the time, and it’s one of the reasons I GOT the job, so I don’t think I can say it’s BECAUSE OF the job. And despite the dread I feel right now, I know from experience that when I’m THERE working, and when I’m on my way home, my mood will be significantly better than it is right now.

The Season for Getting Rid of Stuff

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Tis the season for suddenly wanting to get rid of stuff, and that is what I have been doing. Last night I went through our closet, not with the “Only keep what BRINGS YOU JOY” policy (please), but more with the “If there is dust visibly accumulated on the top edge of this garment, perhaps we no longer wear it.” Paul still had ’90s-era rugby shirts. I had shirts I was keeping in order to bitterly resent what disappointments they’d been. I went through my bras and got rid of the ones I never, ever wear. I got rid of a pair of pants I had been keeping just in case I ever had a need for a pair of pants I hated.

I went through my stationery. That was hard to do, but I had SO MUCH of it, I would literally not be able to use it in my lifetime. It was at the point where I no longer enjoyed choosing a note card to send, because of how difficult it was to go through the crammed boxes of them. I filled TWO plastic grocery bags with stationery to get rid of, and I STILL have lots left. I didn’t want to WASTE it by getting rid of it—but I WAS wasting it, by keeping it and not using it. Now someone on Freecycle has it, and SHE will use it.

I got rid of a shelf’s worth of books. I wanted to own each of them at the time I acquired them, and got satisfaction out of those acquisitions and the subsequent possessions—but either I haven’t re-read them or I’m done re-reading them. Time to stop keeping them just in case there is an apocalyptic situation where I would be glad of every page.

I tossed a handful of lipsticks that I never wear. They were fun to try, and educational; and they will, I hope, keep me from buying anything orangey or light pink in the future—and so they have served their purpose full-well.

In fact, that was a helpful line of thought for me: that even if I hadn’t gotten my money’s worth in the sense of using up the whole lipstick or using up all the cards, I’d gotten my money’s worth ANYWAY: the fun of considering the purchase, the fun of making the purchase and bringing it home, the fun of using several of the cards / trying the lipstick / wearing the shirt to a party. I got rid of a shirt I’d worn literally once, to a lunch date with an ex-boyfriend. I’ve had that shirt for 10-12 years, and it was exactly the right shirt for the lunch date and has not been right for anything else, and it cost $13 on clearance and it is time for Goodwill to have it. I got my FULL $13 out of that shirt the only time I wore it: it wasn’t “$13 per wearing,” it was “$13 to have the Right Shirt for that occasion and feel perfectly dressed for it and relieve some of the what-on-earth-should-I-WEAR stress leading up to such an event.” And what additional value am I getting out of an item by STORING and NOT-USING it? More value will be extracted by giving it to someone who WILL use it—or, at minimum, in the case of things that must be thrown away, by freeing up space to put something else.

It also helped to remember something I read in a book about hoarding, which is that the peak stress is felt in the moment before getting rid of an item; afterward, there is usually relief, and no regret, and in fact usually the item and accompanying stress are forgotten entirely. This is for items that actually OUGHT to be gotten rid of, of course: don’t try this with, say, all the shirts you usually wear, or the saucepans you use multiple times per week. But I have found it to be true for things such as a blush that’s too orange for me, or a book of essays about pregnancy I haven’t read in eight years and am no longer interested in reading, or the mugs that always get pushed to the back of the shelf.

Recipe Request: Quick and Easy Meals

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I have a blog request for you…do you think you could do another call for recipes, specifically quick and easy stuff like casseroles and/or stuff that can be frozen and then popped in the oven? I have made most of the recipes that have already been posted, with Tessie’s tater tot hotdish [from this post] being my family’s all time favorite for years and years. So good! But I need fresh ideas.

If not, no worries, that’s what Pinterest is for. But I like tried and true recipes, and your readers have never steered me wrong :)

Thanks!!
~Laura

Calendar Choices

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The hardest calendars to choose this year were the ones for Rob/Edward’s room and William/Henry’s room. Rob (16) and William (14) like a lot of the same calendars; Edward (10) and Henry (8) like a lot of the same calendars. It ends up being “Which of Rob and William’s choices do Edward and Henry not mind?” But in a few years Rob and William will go off to college and then Edward and Henry will get the full power of choice. We ended up with mostly calendars that weren’t even on my original list.

This is the calendar for Rob and Edward’s room:

(image from Amazon.com)

Astronomy. This wasn’t one of the original list I showed them to choose from, but Rob said, “Are there any SPACE calendars?” and Edward said “Oh, I like space too!,” and so it was decided.

This is the calendar for William and Henry’s room:

(image from Amazon.com)

This Day in History. I was surprised they both wanted this one, but they did.

This is the calendar for Elizabeth’s room:

(image from Zazzle.com)

Walrus. Purchased on a 50% off sale with free shipping, because Zazzle is expensive.

For the kitchen:

(image from Amazon.com)

Kitchen Happiness. I was pretty sure this one would win, and it did.

For next to my computer:

(image from Amazon.com)

Guinea pigs. I didn’t realize how much I wanted a guinea pig calendar until I saw one. This one was such a hit with the kids, I considered getting it for our kitchen calendar—but that would throw everything off, because I didn’t want the Kitchen Happiness calendar for next to my computer.

For next to Paul’s computer:

(image from Amazon.com)

Vintage Patent Blueprints. I was thinking the older boys would like this, but they were both meh about it—and then Paul glanced over and said HE would want that one.

Reader Question: Gift Ideas for a Student with Cancer

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Hi- I am in need of your gift giving expertise! I have read you for years, and know you are way better at this kind of thing than I am! Here is the situation. I teach 3rd grade and one of my students was diagnosed with cancer in November. I have a third grade son myself. He knows my student and this hits very home to me! My class knows that H has cancer. ( That was not a fun lesson – what is cancer, how does it spread, what treatments are, etc.). So, H is getting chemo at the hospital on and off until February and will hopefully be able to come back to school in March or April, which is an eternity for a third grader! We have taken photos and emailed, and my class and the other third grade classes send cards once a week. For a big Christmas thing, I went to Build A Bear, got 25 of the hearts they stuff in the Bears, had my class sign them and make a wish for H, took photos, brought them back to Build a bear, took pictures of my son stuffing them in the bear, bought a Star Wars outfit ( that the boy likes). I took pictures of the bear around school, went to Target and had a photo book made. It was cute and he loved it. But, he is out for three more months. I want him to realize we are all thinking of him without just sending photos of us having fun ( too bad you aren’t here! We are having a party without you!) and without being too expensive. I am sure he got plenty of Christmas gifts from family and friends, so I’m looking for smaller, meaningful gifts that tell an 8 year old boy to stay strong. Any ideas? Thanks so much!
Becky

This is a hard question to even think about, because it is so sad. Henry is 8 and in the third grade, so you and I both have a very vivid mental picture here. Trying to picture what Henry might like in this situation is…a challenge, on several levels.

My opinion is that you have already had the best idea. The Build-a-Bear-with-25-hearts-signed-by-fellow-students gift was inspired, and better than anything I would have thought of. It’s sentimental and thoughtful and a great group-effort project, and resulted in a comfort item for him to hold onto. And you are already doing my next idea, which is to send regular photos and letters. You are so on this, I feel as if any suggestions I make will be things you have already thought of.

I think at this point I would focus on the letters. If you would like to do more, I think a very nice idea would be to find some way to symbolically include H in your events and celebrations, and send photos of THAT, plus a souvenir when applicable.

Here is the sort of thing I have in mind. I can picture having a photo of his face enlarged to life-sized, and putting it on a life-sized paper doll (class project: trace another student who is about his size, everyone help color it in), and then including that life-sized paper doll in various classroom events. And then I’d take photos of it with the other students, and send those photos to him with, say, a cookie from the party, and a holiday card signed by the class.

At Valentine’s Day, he could receive a class-made mailbox filled with valentines, plus a little plate of treats from the party, plus a photo of his paper doll standing by the mailbox receiving the valentines, surrounded by fellow students. After field trips, he could receive a set of photos of his paper doll on the field trip, and brochures from the location. I am not sure, since I can’t count this experience among my own, but I THINK if I were him that would make me feel included and remembered and “We are always thinking of you,” and not “We are having fun without you.”

Another idea is to talk to the child’s parent and ask what might be appreciated. Perhaps his parent will say, “Oh, he LOVES getting mail!,” and you can set up a mailbox for him in the classroom and incorporate it into a lesson plan about letter-writing, and/or have everyone contribute a dollar toward a subscription to a children’s magazine. Or perhaps his parent will say, “He is SO BORED!,” and your class can brainstorm ideas for things to send him: puzzles, books, workbooks. Or maybe he could use another pair of comfy pajamas, and everyone could chip in and help choose them.

I have a feeling that some or all of the parents of the other children in your classroom will be eager to participate. I do have experience with THIS role, unfortunately, and I remember wishing there was a way I could DO something. If a teacher had said, “If you can, please send $1 a month for little treats and gifts,” or “This year we are all doing all of our Secret Santa gifts for H,” or “Please help your child write a letter,” or “We will be sending valentines to H,” I would have been SO GLAD to have something practical to do.

Update:

Hello
I wrote to you a few months ago about a student in my third grade class who was out getting treatment for cancer. I really appreciated all of the suggestions, and thought it was time for an update. The good news is that H is now considered cancer free and has returned to school!
He was gone for four months. Using Skype to keep in touch was useful, but it was kind of hard to arrange times when he felt well and it was good timing for us. We did send lots of pictures and cards. Each week one of the third grade classrooms send cards. He sent in his Valentines and we sent his home to him. He also had a birthday and we sent a video of us singing and holding up signs. He sent us a video of his how to speech that we did in class. I liked the idea of the ” flat H” and if he had been gone longer I would have done that too.
He had a pretty low immune system when he came back and no hair but I warned the class about germs and stocked up on hand sanitizer. He wanted to just slide right back into the rhythm of the class, but that took a few weeks. What really helped was having the Child Life specialist from the hospital come in and give a presentation about cancer, chemo, MRI’s and ports. I think it really made H feel better – that everyone else finally had an idea of what he had gone through.
Now his hair is mostly grown in, he is caught up both academically and socially. He still attends a lot of special events for cancer survivors, but otherwise is a normal third grader. Thank you so much for your help!
Becky

Swistle’s Wish List

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Kate wants to know what I want for Christmas. World peace, Kate. And for my tulip bulbs NOT to be eaten by voles this year. Also:

(image from Amazon.com)

A Few of the Girls, by Maeve Binchy. This is a pre-order, and I LOVE to get pre-ordered books for birthday/Christmas: Amazon then ships it so that it arrives the very first day the book is available, and by then I’ve lost track of when it will arrive so it’s a happy surprise. I have low hopes for this book, since it’s YET ANOTHER book published after Maeve Binchy’s death, and so I’m wondering if they’re just sort of scraping together some half-formed notes and calling it a book, but whatever, I want it.

(image from Amazon.com)

Catastrophic Happiness, by Catherine Newman. Another pre-order. Her first book, Waiting for Birdy, is the kind I happy-cry all the way through. Strongly recommended for pregnant women, if you have any on your shopping list.

(image from Etsy.com)

Marmar Modern Daisy Earrings. I am slowly acquiring quite a collection of Marmar and Marmar Modern earrings. I love them so much, and the French hooks don’t bother my skin the way some do (I don’t know if I have a weird neck angle or a weird earlobe angle or what, but the ends of French hooks often brush lightly and itchily against my neck, so that I keep scratching and leaving big pink marks).

(image from Target.com)

Stud earrings. We are not forbidden from wearing dangling earrings at work, but we are strongly discouraged. “Accidents happen,” my trainer said darkly. But I don’t usually wear stud earrings, so I have the ones I got my ears pierced with and that’s about it.

(image from Walmart.com)

Scrub tops. This is a good moment to mention the winner of my gradually-increasing scrub top collection: the Scrubstar Premium Flexible. They have big stretchy black panels on the sides. I wish they came in alllllll the colors and patterns. Only hot pink and turquoise are available online at the moment, but when I went to the store the other day they had it in red and grey as well. I look silly in red, but I now own all three other colors. The pants, too, are superior: big wide stretchy waistband, so comfy. I plan to wear these as pajamas when I no longer need them for work.

(image from Kiva.org)

Kiva gift cards. Paul gets me a $25 gift card every birthday and Christmas now, and the more of them I acquire, the more often I get to re-lend. I love this.

(image from Amazon.com)

Lunch box for work.

(image from Sees.com)

See’s Candies. So expensive, so yummy.

(image from Amazon.com)

Traverse Bay chocolate-covered dried cherries. These would be on my list except that they went down in price and I pounced. Previously, the best price I’d seen them at was $7/pound, or $28 per 4-pound box. When they went down to $23 for 4 pounds, or ONE-FOURTH the price per pound of See’s chocolates, I SPRANG.

(image from Amazon.com)

Jewel: Let it Snow. Jewel’s Joy: A Holiday Collection (which is only $3.99 now, probably because of the new album) is one of my favorites to listen to while wrapping presents (I cry every time she hits the high note on O Holy Night, though I skip past her jouncy version of Rudolph), so I’m half-excited, half-nervous about hearing the new one.

(image from Amazon.com)

Kikkerland Retro Pens. My sister-in-law and I both have these and we both love them, and we both want MORE.

(image from Amazon.com)

Animal Box postcards. I really really really really don’t need any more postcards. I have, like, an 18-gallon bin FULL of them. But. Animal cards are a very common request on Postcrossing, and it’s fun to have the very animal someone is collecting.

Gift Ideas for 8-Year-Old and 10-Year-Old Boys

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I keep meaning to make some nice orderly gift-idea post with all previous gift-idea posts listed by age, but here it is the 17th already. There is something I need to fix about my blog to make it more searchable by category, but that is low on the list right now, so in the MEANTIME, one thing you can do is scroll to the end of this post, and see where it says “posted in gift ideas,” down at the bottom? If you click “gift ideas,” I believe you will be taken to a big, messy, multi-page chunk of all previous gift-idea posts.

This particular post is based on the wish lists of Edward (10) and Henry (8).

(image from Amazon.com)

Kanoodle. I don’t know if this will be fun or frustrating, but both boys want it, and I love to buy things that more than one kid will want to play with.

(image from Amazon.com)

Laser Maze. What even is this. Apparently they saw a YouTube video about it.

(image from Amazon.com)

The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Adventure Book. Edward wants this, and he is careful and patient enough that I’m willing to buy it. Henry would be punching holes in the pages with frustration after about 30 seconds.

(image from Amazon.com)

Trapdoor Checkers. Another thing they saw on YouTube.

(image from Amazon.com)

Guinness Book of World Records 2016: Gamer’s Edition. They PORE over these records books.

(image from Amazon.com)

Strawz. This is probably a silly overpriced waste of money, but both boys wanted it BADLY, and both were pitifully saving their allowances, so I got them each a set.

(image from Amazon.com)

Minecraft Legos.

(image from Amazon.com)

Nerf guns. Sigh. I have mixed feelings.

(image from Amazon.com)

Plastic army men. Mixed feelings continue.

(image from Amazon.com)

Minecraft Story Mode. I don’t fully understand it, but apparently you can create the game yourself? Or something? Edward says it’s similar to Super Mario Maker, which is a game he wants very badly but we’re not going to buy a Wii U just so he can play it.

(image from Amazon.com)

Heated throw. Edward is often chilly in the mornings. The price is going up and down on Amazon; my mom and I found one for $29.99 at Target, on sale for $26.99.

(image from Amazon.com)

Twister Rave Skip-it. I did not pay what Amazon is currently charging: I got it for $20 at Target.

(image from Amazon.com)

Cool dice. Henry is very jealous of Rob’s dice collection.

(image from Amazon.com)

Space jammies from Target. Also got the lightning ones.

(image from Amazon.com)

Cuddlekins walrus. Walruses are a huge fad at our house right now, and you would not believe how nice this one is to snuggle.

Christmas Cookie Recipes

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Matti writes:

I would like to request a Christmas cookie reference section, as we did for Thanksgiving vegetable side dishes. Only the proven winners we love and rely on. I want to try a few new cookies every year, but very quickly get overwhelmed when I start looking around online. “The 14 Holiday Cookies You Should Be Making!” “The Only 4 Cookies You Need to Make This Christmas!” “The 3 Million Cookies of Christmas!”

I would love some recommendations that come with reasons, advice, history. Alas, I have no real life cookie swaps to attend. :)

What a good idea! I would love this too! I will tell you one I make that’s really really really easy: I melt Andes mint-chocolate chips and dip Oreos in them. You can dip the whole thing, or you can do what I do which is to hold onto the bottom cookie of the Oreo and dip the top and sides, then quickly flip it over onto waxed paper, dry-side-down, to let the chocolate run down a bit and cover the part I was holding on to. I try not to stir the melting Andes too much, and then they come out a little streaky with the lighter mint part not entirely mixed into the chocolate part. They are so yummy and they SEEM fancy but they’re easy. You know, I’ll bet I have a photo of them somewhere… YES, I do!

This photo reminds me of another easy recipe. There are these chocolate wafer cookies (kind of like Oreos without the filling, and a little bigger) sold in the baking section of my grocery store rather than the cookie section. They’re called something unmemorable (“Famous Chocolate Wafers”), and they look like this:

(image from Amazon.com)

I melt some white chocolate wafers; I get the Wilton ones that look like this:

(image from Amazon.com)

I also crush up some candy canes. I spread some melted white chocolate on the flatter side of each chocolate cookie, then sprinkle it with the crushed-up peppermint. I let them cool/dry on waxed paper.

The M&M things in that picture are fussy but not hard. I saw the recipe on Pinterest, and I loved how you could change the M&M colors for whatever the season/event. And you can use dark chocolate Kisses, or milk chocolate, or you can use the Hugs, or whatever. At Christmas I like to use the candy cane Kisses.

And also I make these Chocolate Mint-Chip Cookies.

Gradually Improving Holiday Spirit

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Okay, okay, things are going a little better now. My mom and I went out shopping yesterday, and seeing all the pretty holiday stuff in the stores put me much more firmly into the right state of mind. I bought some nice wrapping paper I absolutely don’t need at all, and four bags of a jalapeno kettle corn I’ve been keeping an eye out for (so far I’ve found it at HomeGoods and at Marshalls), and we had lunch at Wendy’s, and perhaps we are all going to make it through this season of joy after all.

so weird, so good

I did NOT take a picture of the kids as planned, because I forgot Rob and William had an after-school thing, and the Rob and I got snippy in the car on the way home, and so anyway let’s just postpone that into the full-on panic zone. It helped to think about what would I tell someone else in the same situation: I’d say, “Well, if people don’t get a photo in the cards this year, or if you don’t even send out cards at all, or if you send out, say, the half-dozen most important ones and no others, that’s really not a huge deal. You’d just do it next year and probably most people wouldn’t even notice or care. Your mechanic is not waiting by the mailbox for the Thistle Christmas card.”

I DID, however, put all the candy canes and chocolate ornaments on the tree (I did some while waiting for it to be time to pick up my mom to go shopping, and some while waiting for my coffee to reheat in the microwave) and, when combined with the few ornaments the kids have made at school, and the few ornaments I’d bought since last year so hadn’t packed away in the Christmas box, to my surprise the tree looks pretty much decorated. It’s sparse, and I still do want to bring up the box of ornaments and do some more, but we went from Sad Undecorated Tree to Pretty Much Decorated Tree in about five minutes.

decorated

The chocolate ornaments, by the way, are not exactly a CHEAP treat (I found a bag of them at HomeGoods for $10), but I plan to do them EVERY YEAR FOREVER. I bought them last year for the first time, on a shopping trip in which I was in exactly the right mood to spring for them, and I felt like they gave a lot of holiday bang for the buck. Every day after school I let the kids choose one thing (candy cane or chocolate ornament) from the tree, and it’s an easy way to do something festive. I wish I’d saved the package so I could show you what to look for, and so I’d know how MANY were in a bag, but it’s…a few dozen, I think, in a clear bag with a paper label stapling the top closed. And they look like this:

ornament

The package contains some silver ornaments, some red, some gold. At HomeGoods, they were in with the special holiday treats—all the fancier-looking foods you might give as gifts. They had a smaller bag, too, for $4, if you do not have QUITE so many people in your household.

Oh, for something else I can tell you about but have issues trying to link to, I highly recommend this Advent/countdown-to-Christmas tree by Melissa & Doug:

(image from Amazon.com)

I mean, I DID just link to it, but (1) it’s not in stock on Amazon until December 14th, which I think we can all agree is A LITTLE LATE IN THE GAME, and (2) it’s more expensive on Amazon than I paid. I found it at HomeGoods for $14.99. It’s a magnetic wooden tree, and the base is a little bin that holds 24 assorted magnetic wooden ornaments and a magnetic wooden star for the top. It works out nicely at our house (24 ornaments + 1 star = 25, 25 divides evenly by 5 children), except that then I never get to choose the day’s ornament, and I REALLY want to. Next year I think we will do something like 24 ornaments divided by 5 children plus 1 mother = 4 ornaments each, and then Paul can do the star.

ALSO, I remembered my Christmas EARRINGS! I can’t believe I’d forgotten them! Today I’m wearing the little metallic gift-bow stud earrings I bought at Claire’s last year in a multi-pack of assorted colors: PERFECT for work, since I’m not supposed to wear dangling earrings. If you want to spend a little more and/or want something for your wish list, may I recommend these?

(image from Amazon.com)

Sienna Sky Car & Tree Earrings. They are my top-favorite holiday earrings, especially since they feel right any time after Thanksgiving, and because “cars carrying home trees” is one of my favorite holiday-season sightings. They are rather SMALL and LIGHT; that’s either a warning or a selling point, depending on your preferences.

Drops in the Bucket, Holiday-Style

38 Replies

I am feeling sad and cranky and plain today, and my hair is kind of dumb and I’m tired of all my shirts. Paul and I had another argument, and whatever, the upshot was that I started cleaning out the basement storage area, and feeling about 10% satisfaction and 90% resentment-and-why-did-I-marry-a-jerk-who-was-such-a-jerk.

It HAS been satisfying to get rid of some things. I had two medium boxes of baby things I’d forgotten I still had—not particularly sentimental stuff, but the few practical things I’d kept Just In Case: the only front carrier I ever liked, the few receiving blankets that worked best, a hooded towel, the best play gym ever, the favorite baby toys. Time to get rid of those.

Also, do you remember the mother-in-law dishes? That was a long time ago and still so satisfying to me to think of. I swear those dishes made me more pleasant for my mother-in-law’s visits. But in the six years since my mother-in-law died, I haven’t opened the box a single time, or even thought of doing so. And so it is time for that box to go.

I’ve stalled on the basement project for now to give myself plenty of time to sit around fretting about Christmas. I always do that at this time of year, and everything always works out, but this year I am later on everything than I have ever been. That is, when I place orders, some of them aren’t going to arrive until after Christmas. I always at least get the Christmas card stuff up from the basement by this time of the month, and this year I haven’t even taken a picture of the children yet. The tree, which is never up long enough to suit me, is not decorated. And curses, CURSES on the earlier version of myself who thought it was a good idea to make gingerbread houses with the children, because they have latched onto that SO HARD that now I can never stop.

This morning I thought “Something MUST be done.” That is, I can’t just keep fluttering around being stressed and yet somehow not making any progress. And so I am going to take the drops in the bucket approach to this. If I hang one single ornament on the tree, if I order one gift, if I buy one single container of eggnog—all of these things bring us closer to what I’d like to have done, and make me calmer.

Yesterday I did TWO things: I brought the Christmas cards upstairs, and I brought a Christmas mug upstairs. I’d kept NOT bringing the mug upstairs, because “I can’t do that until I put away some of the everyday mugs, and I can’t do THAT until I bring up the whole Christmas box and take everything out of it so there’s room to pack away the everyday mugs.” But then here I was, every morning, not drinking out of a Christmas mug, and drinking out of a Christmas mug is one of my favorite things about Christmas. That mug can sit on the damn COUNTER if there’s no room in the cupboard, and today I put eggnog in there (purchased as the One Thing from the day before yesterday) with my coffee.

This afternoon I am taking a picture of the children. We were going to do one with all seven of us this year, but that’s not going to work out, and we’re out of time, so Just Kids it is. We haven’t changed much anyway. I will try to ALSO take the pictures off the camera, choose one, and order it, but that’s like three additional tasks so we’ll see.