everything is bigger in texas

 
 

Holiday wrapping

Does this sound familiar? I spend actual time deciding what holiday wrapping paper to buy. I pick out bags of bows and different color ribbons to match the paper. Every year it seems so important while I am doing it in the store and about half way through wrapping gifts I realize 2 things: #1 - I now really hate the paper I've picked out and can't for the life of me see what I saw in it in the first place and #2- None of this from the picking out to the inevitable hating matters because it will all end up torn and wadded up in the trash anyway.

I used to wrap all of my stepfather's presents for my mother. When I came home from college for the holidays, I would lug my baggage up to the guest room and find a pile of lovely gifts in boxes and rolls of paper and tape near by. I would stay up late curling ribbons and creasing corners making pretty packages.

My brother used to pick one family member to buy a gift for. We never knew who it was going to be -I don't think he consciously planned it. He would spend some real money and end up getting the perfect thing for that lucky person: The thing you would secretly ask Santa for but never really hope for. That magic present would always come wrapped in the plastic bag from the store.

This year, my husband brought home 2 rolls of paper to do his own wrapping. He bought the exact same paper as the roll stashed in our closet from months ago. It is a superhero print so not exclusively holiday-esque but now it will be the dominant paper under our tree. Festive.

I have a friend who wraps all of the presents in her house - even those purchased for her. She says she doesn't peek. I believe her.

I guess I believe a lot of things about the holidays - even that the paper you pick does matter, even if only for a little while.

Lucky Day

on the way to christmas shopping last weekend
I gave a man $2 for the homeless newspaper he was selling on the corner of the interstate and the main road. After he wished me happy holidays and I rolled up the window, my son said, "Mommy, is that man homeless?" The fact that my 5 year old knows that word is terrifying and sad and makes me so angry with the Reagan years.
I replied, "Yes, and we are very very lucky to have a home and food and each other."
He added: "and our truck."
Me: "yes."
Then he said, "What would someone do if they only had their car and no house?"
Me: "Then they would probably sleep in their car."
T: "Then what would they eat?"
Me: "Whatever they could find"
T: "We are so lucky...Mommy, why are you crying?"

The spirit of the season

My son is beside himself about Santa. We had a conversation about him just 2 1/2 weeks ago. It went like this:
I was folding laundry and T was playing with the TV on. He just turned 5.
He says, "You know, Mom, some older kids don't believe in Santa Clause."
Without hesitation I said, "Well, they're wrong."
He put his hands out at his sides palms up and said, "I know. They are just thinking about Santa with their heads, not their hearts."
to which I said, "That's right. If you think about Santa with your head then you think 'How could he possibly get to all those houses in one night?' but if you think about him with your heart, you know he is magic."
He put his hands out again and said, "i know. Because your brain is only for neurological science."
(After i considered going to lie down) I said, "that's right" (wanting to follow it with "Where did you learn that?" or "Can you do my taxes?")
there was a pause and then he launched into
"What you really need to think of with your heart are those reindeer. I mean, how do they pull that sleigh behind them if the sleigh can't fly on it's own..."
and he started illustrating some high theory of physics with his hands about how the sleigh is always shown following right along but it should be more of a dragging straight upward if only the reindeer can fly and the sleigh can't.
oh
my
goodness.

Happy Holidays!