That pink tree is awful.

A few weeks ago, I suddenly became convinced that Christmas shopping was really important and I started planning out what I was going to get everyone. I am pretty sure Daniel thought I went a bit crazy, but I really think gift-giving is fun and I like finding things people will appreciate.

I got a bunch of stuff on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S. – for some reason it’s a huge shopping day) BUT! I did not leave the house at all because I didn’t want to get swarmed by mobs of people trying to get their holiday savings. Instead I shopped online and got a TON of stuff taken care of ahead of time. Yay me! The only glitch has been that I accidentally typed a “2” where I wanted a “1” and now I have more than one of the same present for someone, and as it turns out, it will actually cost me money to return it to Amazon (the error was my fault so I have to pay for shipping) and now I don’t know what to do with it.

I have also been intermittently making crafty things for presents. That’s the one sucky thing about handmade gifts – I can’t very well post them online because then the giftees will see them ahead of time. I even made a Christmas tree ornament today, after reading about them in the latest Blueprint magazine. You’ll recall my pathetically cute avocado tree, yes? I’m thinking it will probably be our Christmas tree this year. Once I get more than one ornament on it I will take a photo and we can all laugh about how it has grown. It filled out a bit up top so it’s less stupid looking, and we transplanted it into a hip IKEA flowerpot so it is not a victim of a cheap plastic living space any longer. It is still mostly a stick with leaves but it has more leaves now.

Now that NaBloPoMo is over, can I say something vile and snarky about it? I applaud everyone’s efforts and this is not a comment about you as a person, but I am not impressed. At all. I spent a couple of years posting every day (or nearly that) so I know it can be done. I started thinking that since my posting habits have absolutely fallen through the floor lately that maybe it would be pretty hard for me to have done NaBloPoMo at this point in my life, and then I thought, WHAT? You honestly just have to make sure to have computer access every day and you are golden. I used to have some anxiety about posting every day, as though I had all these fans that were just clamoring for my every word. This was not the case. This is still not the case. Lots of my posts back then were totally asinine and I’m embarrassed for having written them, but I just got it into my head that I “needed” to post every day since I had a blog and I got my knickers in a twist if I couldn’t get to my website in time so I posted whatever came to mind.

Everyone hates it when people apologize for having not posted in a long time, and I can see how that’s obnoxious. I honestly really don’t know how I’ve gotten into the habit of neglecting my website, except that I seem to have decided that posting super often is just less crucial. I have made a couple new friends recently, and I’ve been keeping busy at work and crafting things at home and managing to post every small thought I have so I’ve got something up daily is apparently no longer a priority. Part of my problem is that I’m reluctant to post things that I haven’t thought through, so if I can’t come up with some coherent thoughts on a topic I don’t post it, where in the past I would have. Like the bubble-gum pink tree on the front of the Blueprint magazine, for instance – HATE. Burning, fiery hatred. But that’s really all I have to say about the matter so it gets left out.

I’d love to get into some kind of predictable habit, like maybe every third day or every other day. Something semi-regular so you know when to check back and you don’t get faced with the same stupid post title day after day (that irritates me to no end on other people’s sites yet I do it to my own readers all the time. How lame of me.) if you are the sort of person that does not use feed readers. I’m finding that I’m doing all right with keeping up on Twitter and once I eventually do a redesign of this site I’m planning on having a space for my Twitter updates.

My workplace moved offices on Friday and all of us helped out, so every muscle in my body is on fire and I have bruises all over my legs from hauling boxes. Our new space is super rad though – it has exposed brick walls in some spots and hardwood floors all around. It’s very hip. Some of us also came in this morning (yes, on a Saturday) to finish some stuff up. Hoping I get lots of brownie points for that.

I bought two really embarrassing Christmas music albums lately – the first, as documented by the wonderful Kerri Anne, was by Julie Andrews of Mary Poppins and Sound of Music fame. The second was “Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys.” So far, I vastly prefer the Beach Boys, but then again, that one is on CD and Julie Andrews is on vinyl and there is just something about vinyl that sounds nice.

I have also read several books, most notably “The Poisonwood Bible,” and LET ME TELL YOU, I did not think I was going to like it at first, but I had DREAMS about the characters. The premise of the novel is that a family of six moves to the Congo as missionaries. The characters include the father, who is a pastor and terribly hard-headed, the mother, who attempts to be the perfect wife while facing incredible hardships in their living situation; Rachel, the oldest daughter and the typical 1950s teenager, Leah and Adah, twins who could not be more different, and Ruth May, the 5-year-old baby of the family. The narrative switches between all five girls who tell the story in their own words and it is positively captivating.

I do have more to say (remind me to tell you about my holiday dress!) but in the interest of good sleep habits and your personal free time, I will stop here. Until next time!

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