Friday, September 20, 2019

People Get BUSY At The End Of December

This morning when I got up I couldn't believe how cool it was- down in the sixties! Oh, the glory of it! I opened up the doors at both ends of the hallway and immediately the cool air dashed and danced right through it, just as this house was designed for.

Jessie and I had talked about doing some birthday shopping while August was in school and so I drove in and went to her house and we took off for the stores. Here are the people we love who are having birthdays in the next week:
Billy, Lily, Shayla, Vergil, August, Owen, and Lily.
You know what happens nine months before the last week in September? 
Yeah, that's right. Christmas and New Year's Eve. And all those party days in between the two. 
So we have a lot of birthday presents to buy. 
Now. Besides my neurotic fear of all things medical, my neurotic (and growing) aversion to making phone calls, especially for appointments of any kind, I also have a terrible and neurotic anxiety about buying gifts. 
It's probably one of the reasons I hate Christmas so much. 
Part of me wonders if I'm just a complete narcissist who only wants to buy presents for myself but I really don't think that's it. I think I just want to give the people I love the perfect gift. The gift that says without a shadow of a doubt how much I know and respect and love and cherish the very essence of that person's soul. 
And you know- it's hard to find that sort of present at, say, TJ Maxx. Kids are easier to buy for, of course. For one thing, they won't remember for a week what you got them. It all blends in together with all of the other presents. You could make a four-year old kid a quilt stitched entirely by hand with love or buy them a bag of Skittles and Gummy Bears and they'd probably prefer the Skittles and Gummy Bears. 
And adults? Well, we come to expect that our presents are going to be less exciting as we get older. That's all there is to it. But dammit- I want to get something meaningful and lovely and that will last for years to come to give to my sweetest sweeties. 
Which makes it almost impossible. 
Some people are just so damn good at gifts. They have a knack, an almost magical ability to know what someone will love. I don't have that. 
And don't even get me started with buying cards. Good Lord but that's one of the most anxiety-producing things I can imagine. 
It's all a nightmare! 
But Jessie and I got a few things for a few people and it was so much fun to have Levon on his own. We were quite literally at TJ Maxx and besides birthday presents, I needed a bar of soap. I don't like body wash for the shower. It makes my skin feel weird. I want soap. Real soap. And TJ Maxx has soap from all over the world. Levon sat in the cart and together we smelled a whole lot of soaps. 
"This is Shea butter," I'd tell him. "What do you think?"
And he'd smell it and say, "Good!" 
When we got to the lavender soaps he liked them so much that he kissed them. 
Levon kissed the soap. 
Oh, how I love him! 
While we were there I bought him a new book about trucks. It has hundreds of trucks in it. I am not kidding. Ooh boy. He loves that book. He is learning to talk by repeating words like, "Hay Baler," "Recreational Vehicle," and "Forage Harvester." 
These things will surely come in handy someday. 
Right? 

After we picked up August we decided that it was time to go see May. So we went to Midtown Pies and there was our beautiful girl! It was a joy to hug her. 


Also- delicious foods! Jessie and I split a Caprese salad and a little pizza with fresh tomatoes and ricotta and other good things. We shared with the boys. 


So, so good. 

Levon and August turned on the charm for their Aunt May as all little (and big) boys do. We got to chat a little bit- mostly about the upcoming GIANT BIRTHDAY BONANZA PARTY that Lily is hosting next weekend. We're all very excited about this. 

And thus, it was all a pretty dang good day. I even stopped at Costco on my way out of town to get August's present which is a magnetic building kit. When I got home the house was still very nicely cool even though I'd turned off the AC. 
And here I am, Friday night with no husband to make my martinis. 
Guess what? 
I can make my own. 
I hope he's having such a good time up in Tennessee with his old friend. I bet he is. Here's a picture he sent me of his friend's sweet boxer showing some love.



I have no ending but I've run out of words. That'll have to do. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon


11 comments:

  1. I am turning over and over in my mind: Giant Birthday Bonanza Party. That's all. You have a wonderful time. Wish I could come. I'll wait to hear how good it was.

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    1. It's all happening in a week. I hope the kids, at least, have a really good time.

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  2. Those starlights you gave me all those years ago were one of my favorite gifts ever. They eventually burned out, but my appreciation of them sure hasn’t. You do indeed have a knack for finding the perfect gift!

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    1. Oh, Lorie- it's easy to find presents for you. Your style is so YOU. I still have some of those star lights and they are still burning! I never unplug them. It's crazy. How many years has it been?

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  3. I completely understand your fear of present buying......I cannot enjoy even the thought of Xmas until all the presents have been bought...then I can relax and look forward to being with the family and enjoying the Xmas trees etc. Glad for you that the temperatures have cooled. We are about to have the warmest day for a while here ( about 25 miles north of London) today. 23c, which is 73f in your world !!

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    1. And the wrapping- how I HATE the wrapping. I am terrible at it and it shows. It's a family joke by now.
      73 degrees is warm to you? That's like heavenly cool to us. Thanks for checking in from so far away.

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  4. around here it was the heat of August that got us busy, both kids born in May. we solved the present problem by declaring 'ageing out'. presents are for kids, once you get past a certain age that's it. doesn't mean I don't ever buy anyone presents but when I do it's because I saw something I thought that person would like and I had the money to buy it and not because of any annual event where I felt obligated to buy a present. some of this was necessity as we have always lived, with occasional large infusions of cash, on a very small income. the kids are OK with it as it means they don't have to buy us presents either. we're just very low key about it all.

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    1. Well, I have two children born in May and one in June so once again- same-same. When it's just too hot to do anything but lay on the bed...
      The whole gift-giving thing is so weird to me. I wish with all of my heart that I was better at it. We're pretty low-key too but it's still stressful for me.

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  5. I think sometimes we are the same person in different bodies. I have present buying angst, too! And we have a lot of October birthdays here, too, which indeed can be traced back to the Christmas holidays. I remember my man and I attended a tree trimming one year, a rollicking time was had by all, and early the next October four of the six couples who had attended that party gave birth, in our case, to our son. We all knew it dated back to that tree trimming party!

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    1. A tree-trimming party which led to four babies! That's beautiful and hysterical! Must have been a really, really, REALLY good party. Was eggnog involved?

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