Christmas Practically...

 It's coming....

You can feel it creeping closer and closer with every commercial, advertisement, and credit card bill in the mail. Christmas is only 20 days away, by the time I actually get this blog written and posted it will most likely then be only 19 days away. That is less than three weeks. Are you ready? I am not. In those days counting down to the holiday, I have five different parties, celebrations, and obligations to attend, and each of those require a gift or making or baking something for it. Add to that list, I need to put up the tree, decorate, make out Christmas cards, mail packages, bake cookies and shop for gifts. I know that I will have to cut back on some things, maybe on a lot of things. I am wise enough to know I can't do everything I want. I know that this year I need to be more practical.

I consider myself a pretty practical person, most gifts that I receive or ask for are practical in nature. I think I am fairly easy to shop for, it's the buying for others that isn't so easy. It would be nice if we all could just go shop for what we want and let everyone buy their own gift. That way there would be no disappointments and it would save a lot of time. I guess that would defeat a lot of the purpose of gift giving though. Little kids are easy to shop for, they are happy with anything bright and shiny and that makes noise. Adults are a bit harder but sometimes you will hit the nail on the head and get them just what they wanted. It is those dreaded teen years that are the hardest to shop for....I am clueless. I think a lot of that is compounded by the fact, most if not all of my nephews and nieces, have so much and will get so much during the holidays. Money is usually most popular with gift cards a close second. Real gifts are hard to come by ....hard to shop for.

I have two nieces, both 13, their birthdays less than 10 days apart. One of my nieces grew up in a large city, petite, delicate, very girlie. My other niece grew up a country girl, tom boyish, and stubborn, a bit of a wild child. As a small child she hated to have her mane of long hair combed and she was vocal in her opinions. Such a difference between two girls. Maybe they are a product of their enviroment and maybe they are just meant to be different. So when Thanksgiving rolled around and I had family over I was shocked to see my two nieces being more alike than different. They both showed up wearing black, with dyed black hair and black nail polish and lots of make-up. They spent the night on the computer playing games, discussing rock groups I have never heard of and getting holes in their ears. No, not pierced ears but holes, where spacers or tubes or some such nonsense is used to make holes in their ears. I use to think I was a pretty hip aunt, but I guess I am falling behind in the times on what is popular. Holes in your ears just don't seem practical. Maybe I am confusing practicality with being conservative. I then realized that shopping this year was going to be extra hard.

A lot of people have traditions for the holidays. One of the traditions my mom has is that she buys the same gifts every year for some people, because she knows they like that item, or that it is something practical that they will use. Socks and underwear, were always on that list. Without fail you could pick up that soft squishy package under the tree and know automatically what it was before opening it up. Most times you would toss it aside in search of the "real" gifts, ..the fun gifts,... the toys. Once my brothers got married my mom stopped buying them underwear. I guess she felt she was handing that job over to their wives. Being single, I wondered, what about me? Aren't you going to buy my underwear? I guess there come a time in everyone's life that they realize they have reached that passage in life, where they are now an adult and are in charge of buying their own underwear.

Socks though,....socks are a different story. Socks continue, whether hung on the mantle to be stuffed on Christmas eve by Santa or bought by your mom, socks are a part of Christmas.

I chatted with a friend of mine on messenger the other night and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She told me she wanted socks and jammies. She asks for them every year and every year she never gets them. Her family doesn't consider them real gifts. So after the holidays she goes out and buys her own jammies and socks, which then gets her family angry with her. She couldn't understand why they would be angry about her asking for something as simple as socks and jammies. I told her that maybe her family was wanting to get her a gift that would make her jump up and down with excitement and get her teary eyed. Let's face it, socks just don't do that.... Socks don't illicit that kind of response....They are a practical gift.

This year when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas the first thing I said was "socks". I can use some new and very practical socks. Taking a good look at a pair I put on today I noticed that the toe area was getting a bit thin,... they were a little faded,... they needed to be replaced.

I think it is a conspiracy, that socks somehow only seem to last from one Christmas year to the next. Maybe that is just the life expectancy of a sock.

Yeah I could darn those socks when my big toe finally pokes thru the end. I could break down and buy more socks thru out the year. That would be the logical and practical thing to do. Or I can keep believing in Santa and look for socks under my Christmas tree every year...