that’s what she said. okay, i got it out of the way so you didn’t have to go there.
moving on:

so, every christmas (or birthday, or anniversary, or any gift giving holiday, for that matter) i get all excited and do one of two things:

1. carefully plan and ponder christmas gifts and get them all bought and wrapped super eary
2. plan and ponder and procrastinate and run around like a chicken with my head cut off at the last minute to shop and wrap

this year i did more of a #2.  but here’s my thing.  i get everything, light a fire in the fireplace, and perform my yearly wrapping ritual: carefully remove price tags, wrap in tissue then wrap in paper (or bag-it), write all the tags & tie them on, place them under the tree.

well what the hell next!? i swear.  having all those presents under my tree is like having $100 in my pocket.  it burns.

i just love giving presents.  i love giving presents to strangers (i try to do one good-gifting-deed every christmas)*, to my family, to friends, to the boyf, and i even filled up a stocking for finn.  i think, that in our society, kids are brought up to get excited for christmas because they’ll get presents.  that may not be their parent’s intention, but that’s what happens.  i look forward to christmas because i love spending time, money and effort on things that i know will make the people i love smile.

when i have kids, i plan on making the holidays a time of giving – and for real.  everyone says it, but nobody really does it.  i want my kids to grow up knowing how wonderful it feels to make someone else’s day.

i hope you all are enjoying your holidays and can find a little bit of time or money or heart to give something to someone who may not be getting much this christmas.

* last year, i worked downtown.  on my way to work every morning in the cold, i would pass the same homeless man sitting at the corner of 16th and L.  he would sit in front of the caribou coffee and typically just mind his own business.  i only ever saw him ask for food or money once.  i expected him to be there on a daily basis… to the point where if he wasn’t one day, i would worry about what happened to him.  on christmas eve, i was rushing to the office (orange line was delayed, surprise surprise) and there he was, sitting on his bags, propped up against the no parking sign with his hood pulled down over his eyes, like he usually was.  i didn’t care about being on time to work anymore.  i went into caribou coffee and bought  a $10 gift card… more than i’d spent on anyone else’s christmas gifts that year (i was making very little money at my internship and could hardly pay my bills after being laid off in november).  i walked outside, crouched down and put my bag down.  he looked up and saw me (and probably wondered what the hell i was doing down there) as i handed him the gift card and said “merry christmas.”  he smiled and went to speak and i just smiled back, told him to take care and walked away.

all i can do, really, is hope he got himself a warm drink and something to eat and appreciated it at least a little bit.  i know that in giving that one gift, i felt amazing all day.

this year, i already gave my dad his gift today (i couldn’t help it), have almost spilled the beans to my sister about what she’s getting, have almost given the boyf all his goodies (including the contents of his stocking – which is uber cheating), and am just bursting at the seams.  i can’t wait to go to my grandma’s on christmas eve to give out all my presents.

basically, happy holidays, all.  i hope that some way, or another, you’ve each siezed the opportunity to do something selfless for someone else.