so this is christmas...

again.

i find christmas quite stressful. firstly because i always work thru the holidays so i worry about working and needing volunteers and then i start feeling guilty about working because we need volunteers on some pretty big holidays of the year..and where am i? well not here. and then i start worrying about squeezing in family time on the big days that i am working but still needing to do big things around here after i am done with work.

but what i REALLY worry about is shopping because i suck at shopping. i am one of those people who just can't get it quite right. for example...every year since the kids were small..for each xmas they got new pj's, new underwear and new socks (besides all the other good stuff that they really wanted.) i am more comfortable with practical shopping then i am with the "wow" factor.

so a few years ago when they all reached adulthood..i ditched the whole underwear, pj thing cuz that was getting kind of personal but i tried to keep up with the sock thing, until i got it wrong. being thrifty and practical i bought a huge bag of black sox and then i divided it amongst all the kids. well apparently they were mens sox and the girls thought it was hilarious that i went out and bought one big package of mens black sox(they are thicker and sturdier then womans!) and divided it amongst them.

ok so ooops and ditch the sox idea. the following year i braved the mall and i pretty much got everyone's xmas present wrong..jenn got this electric blue and purple/pink striped bathrobe (which i now own..it is pretty warm, soft and comfortable too...and yes it is gawd awful ugly!)

so last year i got smart and bought all of the kids and their partners BCAA roadside assistence. from their point of view it was probably a boring gift but it kept the people i love best safe so i was pretty happy with it.

anyway...this year the family decided that because of new families, new mortgages, new car payments, blah, blah. blah, blah...that we would draw names with a $30 limit,,i am good with that cuz in the last month to keep us afloat, i just gave away all of my money to SAINTS!

so i said, fine, but annabelle doesn't count cuz i want to be able to buy her whatever i want to buy her without a bunch of rules...everyone agreed cuz everyone wants to shop for our sweet little baby!

so you are probably wondering what is the point of this post?...well i screwed up again this year and i am posting to state my case so i don't get into trouble over it.

first of all..my family should know by now that i kind of suck with iron clad rules..i always have and i always will. second of all they should also know that sometimes when shopping, i make mistakes and this year is no different then any other year. and thirdly..while i may be a shopping moron..i can sometimes with a little leeway maybe get it closer to right.

i drew eric's name for xmas and i asked him what he wanted...a gift card from london drugs. ok..i can do that..but it was a bit boring. so i thought about it hard and came up with a game plan..no one actually said if the 30 buck limit included HST, wrapping paper, bows and tape..i think it did not.
so now i had a bit more to play with then just a boring $30 gift card.

i came up with a brainstorm to hold the gift card, sort of like a gift box but even better. and i ordered it and i thought i ordered white..but apparently i ordered pink. and then i started worrying that i could not give my son this thing in pink (i can't say what this thing is cuz the family reads this blog and then they will know what the pink thing is before he opens it on christmas.)

so i ordered another and this time in green. so today my pink and green thing arrived and i picked them up. oh oh..big problem...pink and green thing together cost $40 so even if i keep the pink thing and just give him the green thing, i am still $20 over the $30 limit and it will be a hard sell to convince my family that extra is what i would have spent in wrapping paper, tape and a bow.

AND..if i must say so myself...pink and green thing together makes a very nice set and now i am not so sure i want to break up this nicely matched set.
so now i am really worried that i just broke this years xmas rule and spent 70 bucks instead of the 30 bucks i was allowed to spend.

and then it hit me...not only am i mom and can do whatever i want..i am also carol who sucks at shopping, who makes mistakes and orders pink things for grown sons and then tries to make it right ( i am not so shit hot with following rules either.) my family knows me..they expect these things from me so i am probably off the hook and can get away with giving eric his gift card AND both the pink and green thing this year!

christmas is so stressful...it would be much easier if i could just give them all a homeless and wrecked animal....i have LOTS of those..and in all kinds of suitable colors!