A Merry Little Christmas

When do kids start building forts? I've been thinking I need to purchase some pillows because I have a pillow shortage at my house. When guests come to stay I have to use throw pillows. I always mean to buy them but it's one of those things that I hate spending $10 on because it feels like they just sit around and are only functional once every 2 months. Except my own pillow, which has been the same for a few years (don't gross me out with stories about dust mites, please. I know my house is teeming with them).

Yes, we treat our guests well here. They get to sleep in the basement with sheets I scrounge together and a mix of blankets that don't match on a double bed that we got free from Tony's grandparents (that may tell how old it is). And my brother says the bed is uncomfortable. But one thing I do know:

A trick I learned from my aunt is to prepare a little (or big) basket for your guests with all kinds of toiletries, so that if they forgot anything they don't have to ask and they don't have to go buy them (especially if they had to travel by plane). I have received many compliments on my thoughtfulness from guests. I hope the toiletry/food basket in some way offsets the other not so savory parts of the visit. Loud dogs, crying kid, floors you can hear everything through, and of course the pillow thing.

I'm working on a list of some great Christmas buys (some for me, some for everyone else). To be clear, it's not my own Christmas list, just some things I've seen around that look fun/cool. Tony and I were sitting around the other night and I forced him to have the Christmas discussion where we decide who is on our list and the Christmas budget. It's not fun but it must be done. And then...I realized that I have a very limited immediate family (no parents to buy for) and my brother is in Reno. So the family gift giving ratio is:

Tony's family: 8

My family: 2

or 4:1 if you want to be picky.

I got a little jealous when I realized this, but I like buying gifts for people (doesn't really matter who) so I got over it quickly. I can make up for my shortage by giving Holden more gifts. However, I am trying to limit the madness this year because he's not going to remember and I have enough crap in my house already

(remember what my garage looks like? I'm totally blanking on hyperlinking so it's in the August archives (the 4th) if you want to re-read it. I'm working on being more blog-savvy but not there yet. As you can tell).

And I'm obviously buying into the evil genius marketers and their Christmas saturation because I never used to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving. A little embarrassed, a little angry (damn them!), but also very, very excited! As a mommy I get to experience a two year old at Christmas. Is there anything more fun than that? (I mean the joy and delight, not the sugar hangover after he eats his weight in Christmas goodies).