The Stockings Are Hung...

When I was a child, I wanted one of those mesh stockings filled with cheap plastic toys and barely edible hard candies so badly!  Alas, one never was left for me. I don't remember stockings being a thing in our early childhood and it most certainly was not a thing at all when we were older kids. 

Year after year, I'd read The Night Before Christmas and when I'd get to the lines, "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..." I'd wish above all things that I had a stocking to hang and wake to find filled.

Well, the stockings are not hung... BUT they are purchased and I plan to fill them because this year.  (Disaster barely averted.  I ordered monogrammed and I received two "J" stockings!  At first the grown-up in me said "No matter, I can make do..." And then I heard her.  The little girl inside that I'm trying to pay attention to...Wailing "But I want my OWN stocking, not a make do one!"  My eyes filled with tears and I told John, "Well I'll be ordering another one from somewhere!"  God bless the man, he said immediately, "And you should!  What fun is it to 'make do' at Christmas?")

Yes, I'm giving in to all my inner child wishes.  I've always wanted a stocking, and I think I only ever managed to fill one years and years ago when we were broker than broke.  That year the stockings made up for all that Santa couldn't possibly provide on our budget.  So, we each got packets of hot cocoa and a favorite candy bar, a large peppermint stick, and the most beautiful oranges.  The kids also got a packet of bubble gum each.  They were over the moon.

I was pretty happy myself since 'Santa' had seen fit to provide me with a sample of one of my favorite coffees, Santa's White Christmas Surprise. It made a whole half pot... But somewhere along the way, my stocking has gone missing.

We did fill a stocking for the kids from that year onward, but I don't think anything could compare to that first Christmas we were all together as a brand-new family with a practically non-existent budget.  

But this year, I plan to fill a stocking, because this woman/girl deserves to be spoiled a bit, especially after the years of neglect I've dealt her.  I have ideas to fill my stocking with...

I've already picked up a book at the Dollar Tree that sounded worth reading.  What else do I want to put into it?  Perhaps a box of chocolates.  And a tiny bag of Cheetos.    A new key chain.  A nail file, a packet of gel pens that write colors, a seasonal magazine or coloring book, some stickers, a roll or two of washi tape.  Maybe I'll put in a toy that strikes my childish fancies.  Maybe I'll give myself a dozen coupons, too, one for each month ahead.  "This coupon good for one full day of doing nothing but reading."  "This coupon good for one new book."  "This coupon good for one new perennial for the yard."  That sort of thing, so I can look forward to receiving a few gifts all through the year.

I don't really know just what will go into it at this time but I'm going to set a low dollar limit and do my best to find suitable little gifts.  And I'll fill John's, too.  He'd love a packet of bubble gum, a giant tootsie roll, and a crossword puzzle book or one of those multi-puzzle books.  He is a sucker for a good pen and a novelty key chain, too.

It's just one more thing to look forward to doing this Christmas and I can't wait!

P.S. The stocking arrived with the correct "T" on it.  And I've bought things to fill both our stockings.  I kept it under $50 for the two of us.

P.P.S.  Have any of you seen the Victoria Beata Instagram?  She's written two books but her insta page is DELIGHTFUL!  Karla, I think you'd enjoy this one!

P.P.P.S.  Thank you all for sending such lovely Christmas cards!   But Karla, I NEED to know what perfume you were wearing when you signed my card.  I opened the envelope and swooned in the best way.  It's really lovely and I want to know what it is.

A Wish Book Christmas

Do you remember the thrill of the Christmas catalog coming in the mail?  

In our home, we all wanted to look through it when it arrived and the one of us three kids to see it first, always called, "I get it first!" 

And how we did pore over it.  Of course, the first time through we were all obligated to hurry up so the next could have a chance at it, but then we would pick it up randomly all through the six weeks or so until Christmas arrived.  We made out multiple wish lists as we counted down the days until Christmas.

It was lovely, truly it was and I was pleased when Amazon came out with their own little catalog which my grandchildren have pored over and over, just as I did when I was a child.

Well, I'm a child no longer but I dearly love this time of year when a few stores still send out their Christmas season catalogs.  You know the sorts I mean... high end gift shops that sell lovely trinkets or baskets packed full of fruits and assorted goodies, mail order catalogs for furnishings set in beautifully decorated rooms for the season. And just now the internet is rife with beautiful things, too.  Ads of all sorts of gadgets and pretties and practical items I've lived a lifetime without but am sure I could use, or at least someone in my family might use.  Amazingly, most of them I've never seen until the season of gifting was upon us. 

I have looked at and considered the quality of a dozen gold foil wrapped pears packed lovingly in a beautiful box from a high end fruitier.  And quelled at the price tag, too.  I have dreamed of opening an Advent calendar filled with beauty product samples that costs fifteen times what one full sized item might cost.  I have looked with watering mouth at the Dobosh tortes, with longing eyes at the Herend bunnies, the cashmere sweaters, the bejeweled trinkets.   

Reality bites.  Things are a little snug this season.  Two major car repairs, our recent vacation, property taxes, insurance renewals, a bit of holiday overspending at the grocery yet again, charitable donations to really good causes that we can't bear to turn down at this time of year, the bill we'd forgotten was coming due...All on the same budget we've had for five years with a family growing ever larger.  If I let it, it could make for one bleak Christmas.

Pfftt!  That's what I think of it all!

I insist upon keeping the abundant living mindset that I grabbed with both hands in September just before the testing started.  Nevertheless, I'm neither foolish nor frivolous.  I can't spend what I don't have in the hopes that I can pay in January for a Christmas gift today... 

I've seen oh so many beautiful things I'd like to buy for those I love...and quite a few things I'd like to have for myself, too.  It occurred to me that I could make my own wish book, only mine is a listing of websites and photos of items I've saved in a file for later viewing. I call it My Wish Book.  

I'll look at it and dream as I did as a child.  In three months or six, some of these lovely items' prices might drop and I can begin an early Christmas gift stash, or my income might be a bit freer, and I can afford to pay full price for something lovely.  I might stumble upon some of the items at the thrift store where unwanted treasures await a treasure hunter. 

I've realized that at least nine-tenths of what I've been looking at isn't the dozen apparently perfect pears but the gold foil they are gently wrapped in, the pretty colored paper filler in the very nice basket or box; the pretty wrappings on the gifts with real ribbons tied about them.  That's what really thrills me.  And those things I can manage this year.  There's no reason at all why my presents can't be presented in just such a way and at a far lesser cost than those I've been saving in my wish file. 

It's going to be such a lovely Christmas this year!

Dear Santa

 

One of the highlights of my childhood Christmases was the opportunity to see Santa.  Sightings happened more often than being able to visit and once we moved out into the country well even sightings were unlikely to occur. 

However, there was always mail.  I could write a letter to Santa each year and my brothers and I generally did until we were too big to believe any longer.  I don't know what happened to the letters we wrote each year.  We put them in an envelope and some years; we were given a stamp to go on that envelope.  As a rule, we handed the letters over to Daddy, because he worked at the post office. As far as we were concerned, we had an absolute guarantee of having our letters delivered safely to the North Pole!

December's Quiet Pleasures

 

December is such a festive month, that it hardly seems as though one would need to plan to enjoy it.  But it's because it is such a festive month with so much to do, that I find I must be especially mindful to make the time to get to the quiet splendor of the month.

In a month marked by busyness, I want to appreciate this month.  I'm no less busy than anyone else, but I'm trying to be very mindful this year of the need to stop and breathe, to not run on adrenaline and overwhelm and to recognize the full significance of all that happens this month.

This Last Day of November

I made a new to us recipe on Saturday.  I had gotten a copy of the Magnolia Home Winter Journal in the mail, and this recipe sounded so good.  I had only about half the ingredients.  There were a few substitutions that were made.  It was a lot of work, more than the recipe as written required but I was starting from scratch with several items.  I will tell you it was really, really good.  But I've no idea if the recipe as written is good because it really just ended up being the jumping off place of inspiration for me.

Declarations for the Holidays

 

I'm writing this at the risk of sounding like Grinch.  But this year, I declare 2025 holiday season as mine.  And accordingly, I have written a list of rules for me to live by.

1.  I will not participate in a 'family' event that is bound to bring only displeasure, hurt, tension and stress.

Traveling Well

 

As I type this I am preparing for vacation.  Writing has pretty much taken a backseat to the planning of what to pack, what will be wanted/needed, what might be best to take with us in order to save a bit of money, what is too much to pack.  The tendency is to try to pack for every eventuality.  

The reality is that I can pack every single thing I think I might need (also known as overpacking) but I will be very irritable upon arrival and equally irritable when we pack up to leave.  It's humping all that luggage and stuff about, you see, that really spoils the whole thing.  

Reclaiming Innocence

What I'm sharing today is stuff of a sensitive nature.  If like me you have learned things you'd sooner not have known, then please know that you are not alone.

When I was a child, I was exposed to things a child shouldn't have heard much less have seen.  It removed an innocence that I wasn't prepared to lose, at a very early age.  This exposure happened many times over the next several years.  

I'll Have Fun

 

I'm not very good at having fun.  I am much more prone to think of things that might be fun and then clamp the door shut, lock it tight and force myself to do something 'productive'.   Add to that my Martha complex of being certain that unless I do the necessary jobs about my home, no one else shall (and indeed there is no one else going to do them!).  You can see how I bump hard on the ground the moment I think I'm going to take a day off or a bit of time to have 'fun'.  

Child's Play

                                                               Artist: Joe Cartwright

I've been going back in time these days. Aka time travel which is rather nice as I can travel to past or future. It feels a lot like the Wonka factory elevator!  I've been looking at the ways in which I played as a child.  Part of that exploration is due to the Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way, which I'm currently making my way through.  She'd asked the question a few weeks ago about childhood which led to the question of how we played.

Lovely Day!

 

I don't have a single photo from our day...I have a brand-new camera and I'll confess, aside from charging and putting in the batteries and SD card, the camera has gone back to the box.  I confess I generally save my Christmas gifts, no matter how early they are given, for Christmas.  My phone makes the most awful photos, so I don't use for general photography as a rule.  Off subject all this talk of cameras, except that I wish I'd had the new camera with me today.   

I don't know that I've mentioned it overmuch, but John's anxiety has increased to the point that he is very reluctant to leave home unless we are solidly in the middle of the rut we typically travel, which means we go to church and Katie's and pretty much nowhere else these days.  I've talked to him about his anxiety and how it's affecting two of us and not just himself, but he steadily refuses to take medication.  I have urged him to try the Vitamin B supplement our former doctor put me on when I was suffering with so much anxiety and panic attacks and I've noticed he's been taking it routinely this week, but will he do it next week?  There's the real question.  I sort of nagged him gently for the past week and we got out of the house.