Double gifts

It seems I have two different Secret Santas at work. It's only supposed to be one, but I've gotten two different gifts both days so far this week. I talked to the person who organizes it all, and she can't figure out why it's happening. No one has complained about not getting anything (at first we thought it must be some mistake). The most likely explanation at this point is that I have the one regular Secret Santa,  and the other is the administrative staff person who pulled my name who has decided to leave me gifts all week instead of the one bigger gift that's expected. I have a sneaking suspicion that the admin staff who got my name (and is leaving the extra gifts) is the assistant principal, Mrs. Smith. One of the gifts had a note on it that looks a little like her handwriting. Either that, or some random member of the staff has decided to shower me with some extra love!

I've also gotten a Christmas mug with hot chocolate mix and candy, a large bottle of my favorite soft drink with a huge bag of M&Ms, and a holiday themed dish towel.

I don't know what to think about all these gifts. I suppose it still might be some mistake, but I won't know until Friday when we reveal ourselves. 

Why do I do this to myself?

Ah, the holidays. Every year I promise myself I'm not going to invest much money or effort into it, and every year it turns into a major headache anyway. And I don't even have all that much fun to show for it.

I overextended myself at work. First of all, back before Thanksgiving an email came out asking the staff if we wanted to participate in Secret Santa, which would involve drawing names and then leaving small ($5 and under) gifts and treats for the person Monday through Thursday of the week before winter break. Then on Friday, you'd do one last (slightly bigger) gift. I thought, "That might be fun." So I signed up.

Then a week or so later the guidance counselor sent out an email asking for volunteers to adopt a student whose family was struggling and provide some gifts. Well, I like to be charitable at Christmas, so I told her to sign me up. I didn't realize I would have a child all to myself to provide gifts for. 

THEN, the principal sent out an email just to the office and administrative staff, asking if we wanted to draw names for a gift exchange. Everyone else said yes, so I didn't want to be the odd one out. 

So of course I signed up for that too. 

To summarize, I volunteered myself to be responsible for:

• Buying five gifts for my "Secret Santa" person, four totaling $20 and then the fifth being "bigger". (It's a third grade teacher that I've barely ever spoken to).
• Buying all the gifts a child is likely to get this Christmas. For privacy reasons, all I know about said child is that it's a boy in the second grade who likes "action figures and WWE wrestling". Oh, and his shoe and clothing sizes. *
• Buying a gift for our school librarian, a nice enough lady that I know nothing about. I heard that the minimum to spend is $15 and that there's no maximum. Jesus!

I decided to bite the bullet this afternoon and go get all the gifts from Target in one fell swoop. In case I've never never mentioned it here on the blog, I HATE SHOPPING. Hate it. Online shopping has become my best friend over the last couple of years for a reason. But I did it, and I'm proud to say I got everything I'll need to fulfill all the obligations I signed up for. I spent way too much money and I had NO CLUE how any of it will be received. At least it won't be weighing on my mind anymore, though. I can stash it all in my office at work and dole it out as appropriate.

All this, and I haven't done one single thing for my family or friends yet.

*I actually don't mind spending money on the child, it was just very difficult for me to shop for him. I know nothing about buying kids' toys and clothing, especially with the scant information I had. And I wish I'd spent all the money on him, and not on bullshit trinkets for coworkers. Sigh.

Breakfast with Santa

This whole first year at my new job is turning out to be a learning experience. There are many, many special events, field trips, holiday celebrations, and fundraisers that take place in an elementary school setting. As both the school secretary and bookkeeper (especially as the bookkeeper), the learning curve has been somewhat steep, but I'm really enjoying it. Over the past couple of weeks, in addition to my regular duties, it's been preparing for our annual "Breakfast with Santa" event. It takes place on a Saturday morning, with a pancake breakfast, crafts, storytimes, and one of the teacher's husbands dressed as Santa and taking photos with the children. It's a big deal, and let me tell you that a LOT of work (and expense) goes into pulling it off. 

When I found out that it's not just limited to students at Carver, I invited Marla and little Carsen (who attends a different elementary school in the district) to come. I bought Carsen's ticket as one of her early Christmas presents, and Marla and I took her yesterday. 

I was so glad I went! Not only did Carsen have a great time, but I got to see the result of my hard work these last two weeks. (Had I not had a child to bring, I wouldn't have gone at all).  What a great turnout we had, and what fun it all was! It made the work of preparing for it all feel more worthwhile.

Santa!

Pancakes just taste better with whipped cream and sprinkles. It's a scientific fact.

There were several craft stations. Here's Carsen at one of them showing off her creation.

Carsen and Marla taking silly pictures. This might be my favorite!

Mrs. Claus reads a story.

That's one of our kindergarten teachers as Mrs. Claus, and let me tell you, that woman KNOWS how to read a story to children. Even the adults in the room enjoyed it! *

One of many volunteer elves from among our staff.

Before we left, I stopped by my office to grab something and got a photo of Carsen sitting at my desk. I may get this picture framed and put it up in there!

*At one point in the story, Santa ripped his pants trying to go back up the chimney, and you could see his candy cane printed long johns underneath. Mrs. Claus said, "That's right, children! You could see Santa's drawers!" and a little girl in the audience (with perfectly dramatic timing) piped up with, "But I don't WANNA see Santa's drawers!" It brought down the house.

Simple, but lovely

What a nice Christmas it's been!

I decided early on to keep things simple and to keep the work I do to a minimum, and I'm so glad I did. I still have four days left of winter break, my house is clean, my obligations (few as they are) have been met, and I'm thoroughly satisfied with how everything went.

I kept cooking and baking to a minimum. This is normally the most time-consuming part of the holidays for me, and guess what? No one seemed to notice the difference. That should be a lesson to me. We had good food (I roasted a turkey breast, made mashed potatoes with leftover potatoes in the pantry, and opened a jar of gravy) and delicious desserts (one, just one, batch of homemade sugar cookies, store bought pie, and lots of chocolate candy given to us by friends) and plenty of good cheer in liquid form (vodka and cranberry juice, wine, and mimosas). Presents were minimal; I ordered some new clothes for work for me, a warm fleece hoodie for Gregg, and a nice, luxuriously warm new blanket for the house. The dogs got a lot of new toys that we hid in their toy box on Christmas Eve. I can't tell you how much fun it was to wake up on Christmas morning and to the delight of George and Poppy when they discovered all the new stuff they had to play with!

The haul: dad works a pet store, so Christmas means LOTS of new toys from Santa!

The first toy Poppy pulled out from her basket Christmas morning. She ran and jumped onto the bed with it, which is where I took this photo. 

Unfortunately, the two stuffed llamas didn't last 24 hours with two enthusiastic canines playing tug-of-war with them!

We had such a good time, at home with just the dogs for company. It was bitterly cold last week; we had lows as low as 15F and highs only around freezing. It was nice to be all together, with plenty of good food and a gas log fireplace ready to keep us warm as needed. 

Martina came over the night before Christmas Eve, after she got off work, and we had our second annual holiday book exchange. She got me three (!!) new books this year, and I got her two. I'm about halfway through one of them; as usual, she knows my taste in books very well.

On Tuesday, I went to see my parents and we had lunch together. It was nice to see them, and I was glad I got to visit with my dad for a few hours. His health is very poor, and I'll be surprised if he's still here next Christmas. I'm going to try to visit them more often in the new year and to spend more time with dad. 

Last night two of my friends from book club, Paulette and Karen, came over for wine and dessert (apple pie, store-bought) and coffee. Seeing them is always fun and last night was no exception. It was also the last social thing I have planned for the winter break. From now until Sunday I'm going to read, watch movies, catch up with blogging, walk the dogs, and enjoy my remaining time off for winter break. New Year's Eve is coming up, but we don't have any plans. And that's just fine by me!

Winter break

I've finally made it to the mid-point of this difficult school year. Now it's time for a much-needed break and I plan to try and enjoy every minute of it. Yesterday was a half day for students, and staff got to leave shortly after they were dismissed. We go back on Monday, January 2nd so it's just over two weeks that we get off.

 Last month the principal asked if I'd be willing to change offices, since the one I was in was very large and could be used as an extra conference room (which we need on a regular basis). Of course, I agreed. My new office, while smaller, feels much more comfortable, somehow. The principal mostly leaves me be, and that's just how I like it. I've been more productive and less stressed out, and I hope that continues when I get back. On Thursday the principal brought me a nicely wrapped package of goodies from a local baker as a Christmas gift. She told me that I do a really good job, that she's glad to work with me, and that she "hopes you're happy working here". My husband said that translates to "please don't quit!" and I think he's right! (I'm still planning to look for a better spot this spring).

Christmas is going to be super simple this year at our house. Gregg has only gotten paid for one week's work in over a month now (and that came from the late owner's brother). There's been some problem setting up his paycheck/direct deposit account with the new owners, and he's starting to get a bit upset about it. He's been working a lot of hours, helping to get the store reopened, and we need his paychecks to start coming! It's put a damper on our Christmas spending, as modest as that generally is around here anyway. And to be honest, I'm just tired. I don't feel like cooking and baking up a storm, or of putting up lots of decorations that just have to be taken right back down. I don't want to fight traffic, or crowded stores, or go to a bunch of social events. 

 We do have a Christmas tree, and colored lights on our potted ficus, and candles and greenery on the mantle, though. I love lights and sparkle during these long, cold nights. I'll do a little bit of cooking and baking, just not as much as usual, and Martina and I are exchanging books again this year. I highly recommend having a book exchange with a friend if you're both readers--we tried it last year and liked it so much we decided to make it an annual thing! I plan to have a few other friends over for a glass of wine or mulled cider during the holiday season, nothing fancy. I want to do less work, spend less money, and take time to enjoy simple things over the next couple of weeks. I'm grateful that my little family has made it through another year together, loving each other, and safe and sound and healthy. That's all I need for Christmas!

The elephants on these shelves were from my dear, late mother-in-law's collection. They're very special to us.

What are your holiday plans? How are they shaping up? Is anyone else working on a quieter, simpler holiday this year? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Photobomb

I strung some colored lights on our ficus tree that's overwintering in our den to give it a little holiday cheer. That's the room where we sit and watch tv (the real Christmas tree is in the living room). I decided to take a picture, and guess who just had to come be a part of it?

Wrapping up the holidays

 Hello, friends, and Happy Holidays!

It's been a nice Christmas at my house, the best we've had in years. Gregg had four days off in a row starting on Christmas Eve, so we've spent a lot of time together just enjoying ourselves. There have been lots of friends around, lots of good food and good cheer, visits with family. Speaking of which, Gregg's sister Karen is here at the moment, spending a couple of days with us. Once she leaves tomorrow, we'll take down the tree and the decorations and Christmas will be put away for another year. It's been fun, but I'm ready to go back to regular life now that it's almost New Year.

One final thing I should mention about this holiday season: it's been a full decade, exactly 10 years, that Gregg has survived cancer! When he was diagnosed with stage 3b lung cancer the week before Christmas in 2011, to say his prognosis was grim would be a bit of an understatement. Thanks to three wonderful doctors, determination to do whatever it took to fight, and, if I'm being honest, a whole lot of dumb luck, here he is 10 years later, cancer-free and healthy. I'm so very grateful!

Anyway, so my sister in law is here today and tomorrow. She's still asleep as I type this; she's a night owl who stays up very late and then sleeps late. This works out well for me. Gregg just went back to work this morning, and while she sleeps it gives me my first chance in a week to have a little alone time. Late this afternoon I plan to cook a nice dinner for the three of us, and that's going to be my last "hurrah" of the season. I've cooked and baked and cleaned, and cooked and baked and cleaned (wash, rinse, repeat!) over the last few weeks. I made cookie and treat trays for half a dozen neighbors, gave out small homemade fruitcakes to my book club friends, sent out over two dozen cards, wrapped a few small gifts, and made a big spread of finger food and a ham on Christmas Eve (to share with friends who stopped by). I'm happy Karen's here and happy to cook a nice meal for her visit, but when she leaves tomorrow it will be good to officially be done with Christmas. I'm tired. Luckily, I don't go back to work until next Tuesday so I should have plenty of time to rest and relax. 

 Here are a few pictures from the last week or so. 

 

I hope you all have had a very happy holiday season!

Busy, busy...it's that time of year!

For the last two weeks I've tried to make my desk at work a haven of festive good cheer for the school. The holidays are almost here, after all!  I'm in the front lobby, the first point of contact for parents and the public, as well as being situated right between the 6th and 7th grade halls. I've been using one of my computer monitors (I have two) to pull up a crackling fire and instrumental Christmas music on YouTube every day. There's a tiny decorated tree with colorful lights on the edge of my desk. Best of all (as far as the students are concerned) I've been filling a small red and green basket with Christmas candy each morning and being very generous with it. Ho ho ho!

Thank God tomorrow is our last day before the break, because the kids have been attracted to my candy bowl like moths to a flame and I'm about to go broke! :)  It's amazing what they'll do for a piece of cheap candy; one little boy who was always in trouble came asking for some early on, and I made a deal with him. If he stayed out of ISS (in-school suspension) and I didn't get any discipline referrals on him, he could come get a piece of candy between classes. It worked! Little Clarence hasn't been in trouble for two weeks, which is a major accomplishment for him. One afternoon he hesitated at my desk, clearly wanting something, so I said, "What is it, Clarence?" Of course, I was thinking he was about to ask for candy again. Instead, he gave me a huge hug, said, "I needed that!", and ran off to catch his bus. You could have knocked me over with a feather! So sweet. Lots of other kids have figured out that if they stop by and ask politely, I'll give them candy. All of a sudden I'm about 10 times more popular than I used to be! Haha.

It's been a busy, busy week. Our book club Christmas party was last night, George had a vet appointment yesterday afternoon (I had to rush home from work to make it). Today I had to leave work for a couple of hours to go to an eye appointment. I feel like I've been rushing around nonstop every day. 

Tomorrow night after work I have plans with my friend Martina. She had an extra ticket to an Ukrainian ballet performance of Cinderella touring the area, and she invited me to be her "date".  We're going to get a late dinner somewhere afterwards, too. I'm really looking forward to it, having never been to a ballet. Then there's a lunch with other friends on Saturday, more holiday baking Saturday afternoon (I made fruitcakes last weekend, now it's going to be sugar cookies) and then on Sunday we have a dinner party invitation from a bachelor friend of Gregg's. I haven't met this friend yet, so I have no idea what to expect, but it sounds like fun! 

Next week as we approach Christmas I hope to have more down time and solitude. I'm enjoying this week, but it's been a bit stressful too. At heart I'm an introvert (you'd never know it to meet me) and all this socializing is going to wear me out if I'm not careful. It's already a tiny bit past my comfort zone, but I'm soldiering on. 

Hopefully I'll have more time for blog reading and blog commenting after tomorrow, too. I can't wait to catch up with all of you! 

Kicking off the holiday season

 For my friends who celebrate, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! It was really good at my my house. We got up early that morning and took George over to McLeod Park for a good walk. It's too bad we have to cross a very busy highway to get to it; otherwise we could walk over, it's so close to home. The drive only takes about 3 minutes. It's a pretty park with lots of space, and George loves it.

Then we came back home and I spent the next few hours cooking. I made a pretty good spread for two people, and it was all delicious, if I do say so myself.

Menu: Roast Turkey Breast, Hasselback Potatoes, Cornbread Dressing,

 Cranberry Mandarin Orange Sauce, Green Beans, Sweet Potato Souffle. 

A close up of the Hasselback Potatoes. This was my first time trying this recipe, and we liked it a lot!

And later, there was pie: Pecan (my favorite) and Cherry (Gregg's favorite). The cherry pie looks like hell but it tasted good.

The best part about cooking this meal was that I got to share some of it with our neighbor, Heather. She's single and doesn't have much family, so I sent her a text asking if she had any plans for a Thanksgiving meal. When she said she didn't, I offered to drop off some plates of food and she gladly took me up on it! I loaded three plates with enough food for two meals and took them over. An hour later she texted me and said, "OMG this is amazing! I can't stop eating!! The sweet potato casserole is just like I make it, just like my mother and grandmother would make it and with the marshmallows on top!! This has made me have a Thanksgiving Day!!" 

I can't tell you how happy that made me! My husband is a huge fan of my cooking and he always looks at me like I've worked some kind of magic when I make a big festive meal, but it's a lot of work to cook for just two. It felt so good to share our meal with a friend! Later in the evening when the pies were done I texted Heather again and asked her if she was ready for dessert. Within seconds she responded: "Yeeeeesssss!!" and walked over to meet me at my front steps. I gave her two slices of each pie and some more sweet potato souffle since she liked it so much. Another good thing about sharing our food was it cut down on the leftovers which we always tire of pretty quickly. We had some of everything again yesterday, and today there's just enough sliced turkey left to make a couple of sandwiches. Everything else should be finished off by tonight, too. Perfect. 

So that was our Thanksgiving and then yesterday we went back to the park, walked George a couple more times around our neighborhood, relaxed, and then PUT UP THE CHRISTMAS TREE. In November! We've never put up the tree so early, and I feel kind of weird about it, but it looks pretty. We started off by pulling out the tree and all the boxes of ornaments from the closet in the office/Marco's room. We'd already decided to clean out that closet and to start utilizing the attic for decoration storage, and since we had everything out we figured, what the heck. I took a photo of it this morning because the lights look so nice on this cloudy, gray, chilly day. 

Oh, and our dryer died this morning, because of course it did. It wouldn't be the holiday season without an unexpected expense popping up! So now I know what I'm getting for Christmas. Ho ho ho.

Small

My life feels awfully small sometimes, but even so, it's a comfortable, cozy kind of life.



Sweet Ginger stayed close by while we put up the Christmas tree Sunday night.



The Christmas tree this year. It makes me so happy.

Best Christmas

It's been a wonderful holiday season so far. In fact, this may have been the best Christmas I've ever had.

There's the new house, of course, and that's been the best part. We've gotten a lot done towards settling in and we're finally starting to feel at home. I like the house and the neighborhood more and more every day.

Friends near and far have made this holiday really special. First, there's my blog friends. I received the beautiful flower arrangement from Terra, then cards from as far away as Germany (danke, Meike!), lovely hand woven kitchen towels from Joanne that match the new kitchen perfectly, and on Christmas Eve a package arrived from Tucson for Ginger and George from Gayle! There were chicken treats for the dogs inside, and a letter from her Winston, and even a small pin of a Scottie dog and a homemade card for me (Gayle is an artist). I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for thinking of me!

My friends closer to home were wonderful, too. Marian from book club stopped by on Sunday afternoon to drop off a gift for us, a "new home" ornament for the tree that we'll cherish forever.

Sunday was a baking and cooking day. Since my parents were coming over to spend a few hours on Christmas Eve, I wanted to impress them and any other visitors we might have.

For savory foods we had brown sugar and pineapple baked ham, cocktail meatballs, hot sausage dip, deviled eggs, a cheese platter, vegetable crudites with sour cream dip, an assortment of good olives (that nobody touched but me), and rolls and crackers and chips.

For sweets I made dark chocolate rum balls (and believe me, those babies are potent), Raspberry, Blackberry, and Apricot Thumbprint cookies, and pretzel turtle candy.

I also made mulled wine in my biggest crockpot.

Was it a lot of food?  Yes, it was probably a tiny bit excessive. I worked for two straight days to get it all done (three if you count the day I spent shopping for everything) but I felt like it was worth it considering it was our first Christmas in the new house. My mom and dad really seemed to enjoy themselves, and then when they left we had an unexpected visit from Marla and her husband and baby Carsen! I was so happy--things kept coming up over the last few weeks and so this was their first visit to the new house. I was really glad then that I had gone all out on food and decorations!

I couldn't get enough of holding this sweet little elfling. She was fascinated by the Christmas tree. 

Gregg and I had bought her books for Christmas, the sturdy board books meant for babies. I read one of them aloud, a really funny one called "Toots". We all laughed really hard, including the baby. 

It was a really fun Christmas Eve, and I was able to send Marla and her husband home with lots of food and goodies. I enjoyed showing them the new house while it was sparkling with all the Christmas lights and decorations, too. After they left Gregg and I took the dogs on nice starry night walk around the neighborhood, then settled in for a cozy night. Yesterday we lounged around in our pajamas until noon, ate leftovers, watched tv, and enjoyed a quiet and simple Christmas Day together.

And when I woke up this morning, one of the amaryllis bulbs my mom gave me had burst into bloom.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Although I haven't had much time in the past few days to visit blogs, I've been thinking about you all and wishing you all a wonderful holiday week and lots of happiness!