Christmas Musings

Christmas isn't technically over yet, but in a mere 65 hours (yes, I'm counting) we will be leaving for Virginia and all the lovely holiday festivities that await us there. This means that our Christmas here in California is nearly over. We've been exchanging gifts all week. Every evening we each open one present. Dan's presents are all wrapped neatly, complete with coordinating ribbons, and creatively arranged under the tree so as to produce the most aesthetically pleasing effect upon the entire room. So far, only one of my presents has actually been wrapped, and not one of them has seen the underside of the tree.

My darling husband does not like wrapping gifts. He dearly loves buying them and bestowing them, but in the time that elapses between these two events, nothing else happens. Occasionally he will employ his faithful standby, the gift bag. More often (this year anyway), he uses the "close your eyes and hold out your hands" method. I don't mind, although there is something to be said for the heart-warming experience of retrieving a gift from under the tree rather than from a drawer, closet or the dark recesses under the bed, all of which have served as hiding places for my presents in years past. Consequently, Daniel has promised to wrap my remaining gifts tonight. We shall see. :)

Last night we drove around for about an hour looking at Christmas lights. We stopped and walked when we came to one particularly well-decorated street, complete with lighted archways over the sidewalk. Once while we were strolling along, Dan suddenly stopped and pointed upward. There was a sprig of mistletoe hanging from one of the arches. I've always wanted to be kissed under the mistletoe, and now I can say that I have been. :)

I am done with my Christmas shopping. No small feat, considering the number of individual gifts we decided to buy this year. (Usually we give one or two "family" gifts, especially when mailing of presents is involved.) This means that I've nothing left to do but wait until the time for giving arrives. This is the most difficult before-Christmas period for me. Luckily, most of the people I'm giving presents to are far away and there is no opportunity for me to betray the secrets in advance. Of course, this exponentially multiplies my difficulty with respect to the one person I do see every day and about whose gifts I am perhaps most excited. Thus, Dan has gotten more hints about his gifts than is truly fair, but fortunately, he doesn't press for details. Otherwise I am sure I would give in and reveal everything that he's getting for Christmas. :)

My Christmas baking is at an all-time low this year, due to my being insanely busy this month. I'm quite indignant about this, but have consoled myself with promises of making all of my favorite Christmas recipes in January. If anyone mocks my Martin-Luther-King-Jr.-Day gingerbread house they are in big trouble.

I probably won't be blogging again until after we return from our vacation. So, here's wishing all of you the merriest of Christmases, with love. :) God bless us, every one!