Exhaling

This equals this. 

If you saw my post yesterday, I was at the starting to wrap point. I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped some more, with Pandora's Michael Buble's Holiday mix in the background for inspiration. Everyone needs a bit of wrapping inspiration, don't you think?

I also thought, as I wrapped, how much I've changed over the past twenty years. These days I don't worry a  lot about the ends of the package being perfect, and I don't bother with bows on packages that are being shipped. I've seen what the bows look like when the boxes arrive. I do think it was brilliant of my mother, when she was in the shipping presents season, to put an entire bag of bows inside the box, to be added upon arrival!

It was fun, looking at all the gifts again, thinking of who will squeal and smile and such. Some of them I wished I could keep. Some I wished I could sneak a nibble of. Being honest, it was a LOT of work, but here's the deal: it won't be that many years until all eight of the grandkids hope we'll just send checks, so they can buy gadgets or go to the movies. They won't be asking for a big purple ball, or a pink bunny, or some Star Wars character, or fairy wands or dress up costumes. This season of buying toys is our second go around, a do over gift from God, so I'm going to cherish the daylights out of it. Hopefully when CS hauls this all to the UPS store and sees the shipping tally he'll have the same sentiments.

Take courage, everyone out there; somehow it always gets done, and even if it doesn't all get done it rarely matters. One of my gifts was a hat knit for someone I dearly love, and it was big enough for Shrek. I washed it for THREE HOURS in hot water, trying to shrink it, and when that didn't work, I dried it on HIGH TEMP for another three hours. When that didn't work, I attached a note that said, "I knit this for you because I love you. Feel free to give it to anyone you know who has an unusually large head."

Sometimes, most times, good enough is good enough.