Learning to Exhale

Christmas Eve! I picked up some things I need for my salad tomorrow – beets, pea shoots, extra virgin olive oil, Tuscan bread. The stores today were busy but not crazy, impatient busy. Or maybe it felt that way to me because I was more focused in my purchases this time and was not dashing about madly. While I’m not an overly last-minute kind of person, I have felt that my gift-purchasing technique leaves much to be desired. I make a list and then add things to it as I'm browsing the stores. I always wonder if I have enough for such-and-such person and then I buy another thing or two. Not only is this technique guaranteed to raise your anxiety levels sky-high, it also means that you will end up with bags of gifts in your closet from years past that were not given to the intended recipient, as it seemed like overkill when the time came to wrap it all up (pun intended). Some of the toys that I had bought for my kids are now past their age-appropriateness and will have to be given away as birthday presents.

To combat this unfortunate tendency, I made a list this year. And, although it was very hard, I stuck to it. It meant that I had to force myself to leave cosmetics stores having bought exactly one perfume and without the added brush and hair accessories that I would have thrown into my basket in previous years. When it came to buying a gift for X, I bought the sweater that I had noted down and regretfully left behind the cute little leather wristlet that I spied in the corner and that I thought went so well with it. When I had the Sticky Mosaics wrapped up, (the one that M. loves and the one that is not out till April but that my local toy store owner had managed to order), I stopped with that. No little dolls or stuffed candy cane shaped toys. Sticking to this strategy means that, for the first time in years, I have time to relax and read a book on Christmas Eve. The presents are ready, the cookies for Santa are baked (done by K. and the kids), the outstation gifts have been sent. So, this year it’s just me and my book – and my computer. And I can actually go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. Merry Christmas!