Testing

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Another year down....

Well, just made it through yet another Christmas. This is not my time of year... I really don't like trying to figure out what to get everyone while I'm on a strict budget and then worrying that whatever I chose wasn't considered adequate or acceptable.

This year (against the rules of being a husband) I got the wife a KitchenAid stand mixer. I chose this because the only other thing she really wanted was out of my price range and also because on many occasions I've had to pull her away from the displays in the store due to the fact that she would pet the mixers and coo like a dove.

Fortunately, she seems to be happy getting a mixer as a Christmas present. Not all men are as fortunate as I am:) And as a bonus? There are about 73 different attachments that can be used as fall-back gifts on birthdays and other holidays. Not that I would do that, but it's nice to have the option.

Now it's time to start with birthdays for everyone. The kids are easy, since I have two in college and one in high school that are always happy to get whatever amount of monies that I can send. Thankfully my wife is thoughtful enough to tell me throughout the year exactly what items I should add to my list of potential gifts for most occasions. She's so subtle about it too.... "Honey, put xxxxx on the gift list." It works for me!

April will mark year three of a five year long goal that I am working on and I am so very happy that I only have two years left to reach that goal. Life will be much simpler and more relaxed once I get to that point. (I won't share the goal, but I did want to share the sentiment.)

I am making plans to visit my older children this summer. I'll probably spend a week with them and they have already planned out our activities for that point in time. It should be a very happy reunion:) It's harder than I thought it would be for them to leave home for school. I often have to stop and remind myself that they are of legal age and the ability to "protect" them is now extremely limited. The time spent rearing them seemed so very long in the process but somehow feels to be a totally inadequate amount in hindsight. It's hard to consider the fact that I've either done a good job or not. The rest of life is up to them. *sigh* I don't feel ready to let them go, but I have no option.

Now that this year is done, I only have to wait for the cats to finish stripping the Christmas tree of needles so that I can take it down and spend countless hours vacuuming them out of the carpet.

Oh joy. *smirk*

Happy New Year:)