Breakfast
Do you still have gifts to buy or are you done with your shopping?
I still have a couple to buy. We have to pick up something for Paul's uncle. He's so hard to buy for. I'm about halfway done shopping for Paul. We probably shouldn't be buying each other anything and saving the money instead, but we've been through quite a few Christmases where we didn't buy for each other. We're not going crazy, just a few things. I do have everything that I have bought already wrapped, though, so I'm ahead of the game in that regard. Paul, on the other hand, who has done no shopping yet is going to be a busy little beaver on Christmas Eve.
Lunch
Has the economy affected any part of your Christmas this year? How?
No, not really...but it probably should have. We spent the same on everyone else that we always do, but as I said above, we're buying a few things for each other. I picked an extra kid off the tree at work to buy for. I'm thankful the gas prices are down right now. That really helps. We're cutting down on a lot of things after Christmas, though.
Dinner
What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
I guess we don't really have any. With it just being the two of us and so many people coming in and out of our lives, we haven't really developed any traditions. We usually spend Christmas Eve with Paul's family opening gifts and eating finger foods. If we exchange gifts between the two of us, we do that on Christmas morning. I guess that's about it. Oh, and every year Abby gets a new big fuzzy ball. (Shhhh...don't tell her. She doesn't know it's under the tree.)
Midnight Snack
Are you feeling like a Jolly Elf or a Grinchy Scrooge right at this moment?
Definitely Grinchy Scrooge. It just doesn't feel like Christmas. Paul and I were just talking about this earlier tonight. It came up so fast this year, and I don't know if it's the state of the economy, the uncertainty of the country, or what, but as Paul said, it's really just another day. It's so commercialized. I was shopping last Friday after work and as I came out of Sams Club (where I didn't buy anything because they didn't have what I was looking for and even if they would have I can't say that I would have stood in those lines) and next to the Salvation Army bell-ringer were a group of carolers. It was more annoying than anything. I sent Paul, who knew I was out shopping, a text saying, "Bah Humbug." The stores were unbelievably busy...on a Friday afternoon...and I just wasn't finding what I was looking for. A lot of the stores shelves seemed emptier than usual. I heard the stores just aren't stocking up this year because they expected people to not buy as much. I don't know...it's just an all-around strange Christmas. I guess this is when we need to step back and remember the real "reason for the season." I think that's the only thing that will get a lot of families through it this year.
Recipe for this Week (instead of your recipe for life - what is it for just this week?)
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling...how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss.
