Susiej

I don’t like surprises. They make me nervous, no matter how sweet and well-intentioned the gift. But thinking back, here are a few of my most memorable gifts.

1. A J Peterman black linen dress.
2. To have absolutely nothing else to do on a pre-Christmas snowy afternoon so that I can watch the black and white version of The Bishop’s Wife.
3. The flowers my husband sends on my son’s birthdays. He remembers how much each one of those days is really an internal birthday of my own.
4. The essential oil blend of pure rose, lavender, clary sage and grapefruit, which I mixed into a jar of sea salt and olive oil. I scrubbed this onto my body every morning before my shower, and slowly nursed myself back from a bout of post-partum depression.
5. The “Create your own bottle of wine” gift from my brother. It’s awesome, because we’re making it an a group — him, his wife, his son and wife and us.
6. The Williams Sonoma Gift Card my Dad faithfully gives me every year. No matter what day I use that card, whether it is New Years Eve Day, or a dreary blistery day in March, the minute I pull open the doors of that delicious store of tools, it always feels like Christmas.
7. And of course, my personal shopping excursion with my fashion consultant.

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I really don’t think it has a thing to do with the fact that we once cut our own tree and every needle fell off two weeks before Christmas,

and just like The Grinch, we had to take every single ornament off the tree,

but the boys really want an artificial tree this year.

Three years ago we found this awesome Christmas tree farm in the town where I grew up. Nestled among valleys and the two castles there is a sweet family working their tree farm to put their three children through college. They sell ornaments and have hot chocolate and cookies — but it’s not a flashy overwhelming set-up.

It’s just a place that makes me feel closer to home, closer to Christmas. And they remember me. (How could they forget the year they had to drive over an hour and replace our Charlie Brown Christmas tree?) This is the new tree they brought us.

We go back to this tree farm every year, despite the fact that our maiden tree fell apart.

But this year, the boys, taking to heart all they have learned in school about the environment and global warming, are willing to cast tradition aside and go for an artificial Christmas tree. They did mention something about being “tired of the mess.” I think there is some research that proves it’s more environmentally friendly to cut a tree than buy some plastic thing made in China. Still, there is something heart-wrenching about watching that ax take that first cut into a perfectly normal tree.

But you know what? I really could care less. I’m knee deep in finishing these videos. It’s worse than I thought. But the good news, it’s going much faster than I thought — I’m going to make my Christmas deadline, for sure. But this work does take a toll on you. Really, I had no idea how much whining we had going on in our house last year! And I’ve go to listen to it all AGAIN! I’m editing it all out — lots of tape on the cutting room floor. And then, I come out to hear more whining!But, I’ve had lots of laughs — stuff I can’t believe I was lucky enough to catch on tape. The hardest part if finding the files on my computer — they’re so old I can’t remember what they’re named! And the software attaches all of these extra files so I have no idea what’s what.

Latest stats: I just finished four movies — Jan- July 2007!! Plus, two Christmas movies are done, and Thanksgiving 2006 is on the agenda for tonight. Once that’s done, all that’s left is Summer and this fall. Oh, yeah, and the Disney vacation — ugh. That one will be tough. It is draining folks. Draining.

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When it comes to Christmas presents, kids have a sixth sense; they can smell presents the way a Mom can smell chocolate. You’ve worked so hard to find them the perfect gift, and then, they find the gifts and spoil the whole surprise. I put the presents in garbage bags (new ones) and hid them in the garage with the garbage. The kids still found them. My boys are curious climbers, so I truly have to be very careful , and creative about where I hide the presents. So here is a list of some of 13 of the most creative ways to hide presents.

1. Fool them with the location. They always expect the attic, so store them under the bathroom or kitchen sink, or in the laundry room in brown paper grocery bags.
2. Put them in storage tubs marked “summer clothes,” or “Valentine’s Decorations.”
3. Place them on a high shelf in a linen closet. (This would not work for me, climbers.)
4. Consider becoming an Avon representative. One Mom used the Avon boxes that came with products and hid thepresents inside.
5. The The Purloined Letter approach: Don’t try so hard to hide them. Once, I bought a large rocking horse. There was no where to hide it, so I covered it with a sheet and sat it in the corner of the basement with the tools and painting supplies. They never once looked underneath to see what it was.
6. Hide them in suitcases stored in the attic. Or use the empty Christmas ornament storage boxes and tubs to store the presents.
7. Place small gifts inside an old purse, plastic bag or briefcase, and hang it in a closet in a spare bedroom that is not used very often.
8. My husband tells me his office conference room is full of presents right now. Leave your gifts at work.
9. Send the presents to the neighbors — neighbors that don’t have kids who will conspiratorially spy for your kids. My brother, who lives an hour a way, has most of our presents. For me, it’s the safest way to hide presents.
10. Trunk of the car. This actually would never work — was this before the invention of the mini van?
11. Closet locked with a key. This involves actually buying a pad lock, and installation. However, a locked closet with a key will create a lot of suspicion, planning and will eventually, in my house lead to the capture of the key.
12. One Mom hid the presents under her child’s bed! She never cleaned under there, and so she never found them. I’m actually considering this one. The one place they will never go.
13. My parents actually put them wrapped, under the tree. I peeked one year. It was so hard trying to act surprised on Christmas morning. I vowed never to peek again.

You will probably end up using many variations of these hiding places. This can be dangerous. You may have hid them so well that you aren’t able to remember where all the presents actually are when you’re sneaking them out on Christmas Eve.

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Filed under: Life, try this, wordless wednesday by SusieJ - 26 Comments →

The fact that this picture is fuzzy is ironic. This was taken during a fuzzy time in our household. The day this picture was taken, I came home from the grocery store; a sitter was here to watch everyone so that I could buy the groceries. I was bleary-eyed from lack of sleep from nursing a newborn, and this little guy was two years old. He saw the bread in the grocery bag, and he wanted it. I started to cut him a piece from the loaf, and he said, “No, No, No.” He wanted the whole thing.

Arguing with him was, and still is, pointless. He will wear you down. So, here he sits, happily with his bread.

I stumbled upon this picture while working on the home movies. As I look at this photo now, it becomes apparent to me that these “fuzzy daze” are gradually fading away from my life. Their legs are getting longer; it’s taking me less time to clean the house (not a WHOLE lot less, almost imperceptible); they don’t complain when I give them “big kid” plates instead of Toy Story plates, and I have fewer arguments over bread.

The photo, fuzzy and all, is framed in my kitchen now as a reminder of those fuzzy days when I was bleary-eyed, and needed a sitter just to go to the grocery store. It’s also a reminder of how just how “little” those “big” problems will look in just a few short years.

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Filed under: Life, best shot, boy, spirit by SusieJ - 17 Comments →

The first thing I like to do on Friday after Thanksgiving is to clear the decks of the orange and browns of Thanksgiving and usher in the beautiful bright colors of Christmas as soon as possible. I have a ritual for this — I make cookie dough. I didn’t say I make cookies — I just make the dough, and then I store the dough in my freezer.

Once it’s there, it’s so easy to pull out a ball of dough and roll them out for cookies whenever the Christmas Elf mood strikes us — with half of the mess that baking cookies traditionally requires. I see the whole cookie baking process, with kids in the house, as a step by step process. Baby steps; break things down.

I’ve been tagged by Angie, and Motherwise for some memes. First, I will do that seven weird random things meme. Angie’s will take some time.

1. I wear socks to bed every night. Even in the summer. If I get cold, then I spend the rest of the night getting up to pee. So, I just wear socks, and everyone gets some zzzs.
2. After my Mom died, I kept checking my e-mail — I just had this feeling that she had some lost e-mail left out in the cybersphere that didn’t make it to me yet. And that e-mail would just explain EVERYTHING. It has yet to arrive. OK, Mama Milton, I’m sticking with the weird here too.
3. When I do get up to pee at 2 a.m., I have deep dark thoughts. They frighten me. Does anyone else out there have those? I’d like to have a discussion about them on the blogsphere — get them all out in the open while it’s daylight. Because, during the day, these deep dark thoughts don’t look so deep and dark. And then, maybe, at 2 a.m. I could just read what we said during the day –instead of bugging you with a phone call at 2 a.m. — and I wouldn’t be so frightened.
4. I’m a very good at the piano. I won contests and stuff.
5. I have a passion for design and architecture magazines. I drool over Metropolitan Home, Better Homes and Gardens (did they just fold or something), and I have a subscription to Architectural Digest. But, I can’t figure out where to put the sofa, or hang a picture. But I like the pretty pictures in the magazines.
6. I used to be an avid gardner — before kids. I knew the names of plants, just by looking at it’s leaves. I knew when to plant it, when it would flower, the best time to prune it, and where it originated from (it’s habitat). What is more fascinating, to me, is that I never formally studied this. I just watched a few shows on TV, visited a lot of garden stores, and started gardening. But, when I had kids, I found it very difficult to focus on the plants and hear what they were trying to “say” as I weeded. I got so frustrated that I just walked away from my shovel, took off my gloves and never looked back. Surprisingly, I don’t miss gardening — but I still remember everything about the plants. It was a language I seemed to have learned.
7. I feel like cooking everything in site today. Mainly, because I just want to eat everything in site today. I’m taking advantage of it and baking like a fiend — Chex Mix, Marshmallows, Gingerbread — because I may not have this muse later on this month when I really need it.

Who to tag? Patios, Crunchy Domestic Housewife, Zena, BusyMom (no, you’re not the worst) Jenny, Painted Maypole, Slouching Mom and my fun single girl-friend Garnet have already been tagged. Leslie and Aussie Mum did the 8 meme, which I am staying far away from. The Wink, Melinda Zook, Sabbatical from Sanctity, Kiwi Countdown, Damama, Whoisgoingtotellyou and therapydoc. are tagged, So, who can I tag? For sure, Amy, Janey, Melody, Louann, Sassafras (how have you been lately?) and Mountain Mama. Maybe Gift of Green could do 7 green things about her, besides freezing her bum.

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