fresh starts...new beginnings...clean slates- all good. i love to make goals and resolutions no matter how likely i am to fail. i like to be a girl inspired; a [wo]man with a plan. and i am determined that 2010 will be my best year yet. i am going to spend this weekend thinking of what goals will top my list, fun! happy new year to you + you!
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i'm a few small errands away from being done with all christmas preparations! i am looking forward to spending the next couple of days baking for neighbors and friends and relaxing at home. i haven't sent out christmas cards and i don't think i'm going to. i might change my mind and set up the tripod, but for now, i am done with to-dos and ready for relax mode. all that's left is to wish you and yours a very merry christmas and a hap-happy new year!
{image here. miniatures through a view finder = obsessed.}
thoroughly cream: 2/3 cup shortening, 3/4 cup sugar
cream in: 2 tsp. grated orange peel, 1/2 tsp.vanilla
beat in until fluffy: 1 egg
stir in: 4 tsp. milk
add: 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt
to finish: divide dough in half; chill for 1 hour or till cold. on lightly floured surface roll to 1/8 inch. cut in shapes and bake on greased cookie sheets at 375 for 7 minutes. they will look uncooked. cool slightly on baking sheets. put on racks and decorate in your pajamas while watching christmas movies with your cute family. enjoy!
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dear grant, you have been bugging me for some ideas for gifting me a few goodies. i will tell you this: it would be impossible to go wrong with yarn. i trust your taste, if the color looks awesome to you and the fiber is natural, i will LOVE it. i especially want rowan pure wool 4 ply or debbie bliss baby cashmerino. cate would have so much fun picking out a color or two. i called around, both are available at pipers quilts and comforts in salt lake. they also have fabric there, which i know is what cate wants to get me. let her pick out a yard or two of any she likes to wrap up for me and make something together with.
p.s. i just thought of a few things i need in the kitchen. you know i love martha, and her kitchen line at macy's is my favorite. pretty much anything there would make me happy, but here are a few things i need, for example:
pps- i honestly can't think of anything else. but you know what i like: scarves, books, magazines, and of course you go through my etsy favorites, although i'm sure my procrastination has made shipping in time impossible. and don't you go over the agreed limit. merry christmas!
ppss- i just remembered i need t-shirts! i like men's shirts cause i need longer sleeves and a boxy cut. men's mediums are comfy. here's a few i like:
i think i kind of have to have that lake tahoe shirt. all these are at urban outfitters. speaking of which, any cute plates or bowls from there or anthro on the clearance rack would be awesome. or pillows. and come on, anything from anthro. absolutely anything. ok, you officially have my list and ideas. have fun shopping. cate and i are almost done with your christmas presents! i love our little family and can't wait till christmas morning!! what should we get penny? a bone? should i make her a pillow out of her favorite blanket of ours? let me know. xo, wifey
i so enjoyed reading everyone's comments and ideas about christmas gift giving and what to do- a great discussion. i agreed with every single point of view- and since those views varied tremendously, i remained unsure!
the real crux of the problem was that she already has a few doll houses- handmade, wood, thrifted, etc. all cheap or handed down, all awesome. she honestly plays with them all and loves to have friends over and they each use a house. if she just needed any doll house, that wouldn't be near as debate worthy to me...the real problem in my mind is that she wants this house just because it's the cool thing to get this year and all the cost gouging and fighting for the "hot" toy because of effective child advertising is really disgusting to me.
so as i went through my day's work yesterday i thought a lot and tried to decide my feelings about gift giving and christmas in general and come to a decision. here was the day's thought process:
1. it doesn't matter why she wants it, to her it's important. like the year i got a cabbage patch. i wasn't even sure why i wanted it, but when i actually got one it was magic!
2. we celebrate christ every day in our home, not just in this season. i know she knows the real meaning of christmas. the actual christmas celebration, to me, is as much about tradition and family fun and the world being a more happy and kind place for a little while as it is religious devotion. (but it is about religious devotion, like the whole of our lives). so i don't think it's wrong to enjoy the few years we have with little children who still believe in the magic of it all by making a wish come true- it is not our usual way of life. it's a special time. of course there may be years when that is not possible, and that's ok, too.
3. i think getting a fake or handmade version of what you really wanted is more disappointing than getting something else entirely. (i have a lot of personal experience with this one- others may feel different, but i secretly cried many times).
4. she's not a spoiled kid, and we buy most things from thrift stores. she knows that she only gets new toys on special holidays, and she actively helps me donate items to thrift stores/ humanitarian causes and happily pays her tithes on her tooth fairy money, you know?
5. ok, so then, i am not opposed to buying her the toy- but i am opposed to paying many times what it's worth to price gougers. she may have to get something else because i waited too long and didn't know its popularity.
6. and she'd live. but cate, like her mother, is all about expectations. if she is prepared she can handle anything. if she has an idea about what it will be like, she will love it no matter what.
6. so then a win-win would be to persuade her to love something else before hand. i'm good at persuasion.
7. so i decide to have the elf convo with her and see what other toys we come up with:
me: cate! i just saw on the news that so many girls asked for the barbie house that santa asked if there were a few brave girls who could send him a new letter asking for something else to help his elves out!
cate (eyes dreamy and fists clenched and on tippy toes): oooooooooo! that's going to make it so much more exciting when i get one!!!
8. crap. we talk all afternoon about presents, ideas, etc. and finally i convince her of a few things she'd like just about as much. she says ya, ok, those other things would be good, but i do still hope i'm one of the girls that santa can bring it to. decide that's a good attitude and she's getting something else.
9. get emails from awesome ladies this morning declaring that toys r us had just gotten the dream townhouse in stock again and it was on sale plus free shipping!
10. without thinking, purchase dream house as fast as i could type. it sold out five minutes later...
11. smile at my dramatics over this silly problem. get excited about the christmas miracle that just occurred!
12. vow to take my family to work at the soup kitchen one night, help cate clean out her toys to donate a few things to make room for the new christmas toys, and help her wrap a few things for toys for tots. vow to enjoy with all my heart seeing her face when she sees the barbie dream townhouse in front of the tree on christmas morning.
13. realize that i only have one child and i'm still a young and not wise mother; i'm sure i'm making a thousand mistakes (not just about this) and i know i'm always overly dramatic about every little decision.
but i followed my heart.... and that will have to do.
i got a few of these cutie reindeer for a quarter at the thrift store. cate loves to play with them and have funny reindeer conversations. every time i see one around the house i smile. and every time cate sees them she smiles.
cate really wants the barbie dream townhouse. i learned at midnight last night that it is one of those stupid sold out hot toys this year and is available nowhere. since i didn't want to get a huge plastic monstrosity in the first place, and hate crazy christmas consumerism, this development has caused an intense debate in my head and heart about the right thing to do. she really really really is positive santa will bring it to her. "santa" doesn't agree with the measures that it would require to procure. santa thinks this isn't what christmas is about.
santa also doesn't like destroying a little girl's unpolluted belief in santa and dreams coming true. this does not make santa smile. but this santa much prefers the 25 cent smile makers.
i have a plan: i am going to tell cate that i saw on the news that the elves were in trouble for all being cotton headed ninny muggins and that they didn't get enough barbie townhouses made. santa asked every little girl to think of something else that could make them smile on christmas morning. something maybe made of wood?
i don't feel bad lying. the whole thing really is lying, isn't it? in a good way, you know. i'm not a grinch. i love to buy cate things that make her happy, are useful, and she doesn't get willy nilly the rest of the year. mostly art supplies and activities. she loves it. santa loves to gift it. we talk a lot about what the gifts represent and the true meaning of christmas.
but there's always that one big plastic flashy talking thing she's been convinced by some commercial will make her dreams come true. most of me feels like, there are kids without food, ok? this is not a problem. another part of me knows how desperately this little girl wants siblings- and one of the few upsides it being just her is that we only have one to shop for, it's do-able, we don't normally buy her these things, and it really is so fun to see her eyes light up with joy when santa comes through.
thoughts?
