I had a plan in place. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was my plan, so I’ll own it. It involved my last minute Christmas shopping. Right now, my two part time jobs frequently surpass 50 hours a week of work time, so I have trouble finding the time to shop. Honestly, I also have trouble finding the energy, especially since I have been sick most of the last few weeks. I think I may have lost weight just because I blew so much mucus out of my nose. Anyway, my plan the last few years has been to wait until winter break from school, and shop like mad for a few days. It’s not ideal, but it can work. But this year, it can’t work. Winter Storm Elliott has foiled my plans. Since I have a meet today, I was planning to start in earnest after practice ends tomorrow, around noon. That’s noon on Thursday. I’m pretty sure the timing for when Elliott hits is right in that time slot. Truly, I believe that without the storm, I could have accomplished everything I needed to do on Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon, and Saturday, if needed. But with one foul winter storm prediction, I have lost all those options. 

As a substitute, I drug Tayden around last night until nearly 11pm shopping for all his siblings. I got to teach him the fine art of finding the one gift that might work in the heap of other stuff, and spending too much under pressure. I nailed it last night. The upside: Tayden got to pick all his gifts, and they will fit. The downside: Tayden gets NO surprises. Also, Tayden’s favorite underwear is really expensive. Where did he get this high end underwear taste? This style of shopping leads to really inequitable gift giving. It’s hard to keep track of the numbers, much less try to even things up. On top of that, we are getting Taryn new tires for her car, which is WAY, WAY over what we usually spend, but she really needs them, and doesn’t have the money. If you know Travis, there is NO way his girls (or boys, but mostly his girls) will drive in a car through winter, living hours away from us, that doesn’t meet his standards. He stands behind this with his wallet. Her birthday gift will be a new car battery. That Bear (Taryn’s nickname) is living the high life in Wisconsin. 

So, my Christmas shopping is nearly complete. After my meet tonight, I plan to pick up a few extra items for the girls. Tessa was definitely shorted, and Taryn has to open something Christmas morning… if she even gets here for Christmas morning. We have discussed in detail skipping Christmas at home if they can’t get here safely. 

So, I need a new Christmas plan next year. I’ve tried this plan the last few years and it worked exactly once. One year, I had a direct Covid exposure and had to quarantine for the week leading into Christmas. That year, I assigned each kid another kid’s list. Actually, that worked okay. I’ll add that to the list of potential new plans. This year, Elliott changed my plan. I’m open to suggestions. 

Merry Christmas everyone! May you SAFELY enjoy the company and embrace of loved ones. If you need some chaotic Christmas company, stop by our house.