I am sitting here debating whether or not I should purchase two sets of fake reindeer antlers for our labs.  I have always wanted to take pictures of them with antlers on their heads.  I am not a dog owner who buys clothes for dawgs, but this year, I have been obsessed with the idea of buy them antlers.  I am enjoying the spirit of Christmas.  It snuck up on me this week.  Well…it kind of started a few weeks ago.  I was in TJ Maxx.  There is a huge one by where I live and I swear they have the most beautiful ornaments and Christmas decorations I have ever seen.  The day I went in it was to buy a mirror for a bathroom I am renovating and I walked through the Christmas decoration isle.  I had, on purpose, began my anti-Christmas tirade of  I cannot believe all of this stuff, people overspending…like other individuals’spending should be any of my business, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  All of the sudden I saw some red boxes stacked very neatly on a table.  They were Lenox ornaments. 40% off!  I started looking at them.  There were beautiful wreaths, a snowman, a gingerbread house, bells and other Christmas images…all Lenox.  Now it wasn’t the name brand that attracted me, instead, all these ornaments are so beautiful. I began to look at other ornaments like the ones that look like shiny metal.  I must have stood in that aisle for about an hour looking at ornaments, mantle decorations, and santas in all shapes and sizes. Later that  day, I experienced the same feeling when I stopped at a garden specialty store.  This place has just opened and I wanted to browse. This place also is packed with ornaments, but these are Shiney Bright vintage ornaments.  Hell…ornaments that were popular when I was a child are now called vintage. *sigh* While I looked at these, I had a fond memory flood…I recognized a lot of them.  When we were growing up, my brother was an ornament freak. Every Christmas, he would buy a box of ornaments to hang on the tree. I didn’t experience a sense of emptiness but I just got very happy because I saw some of those lights that have water in them and when they heat up, they begin to bubble.  Also, I saw a star that is just like the one we used to put on our tree. I enjoyed looking at every ornament that was in the store.  I am glad the manager and the clerks didn’t mind.  They are very proud of their new store.

Every Christmas, our department buys gifts for the family of a single mom or dad who is a student.  I never participate in this because I was always too busy and/or I wanted to avoid going shopping.  But this year, because of my ornament tour, I decided to sign up to buy gifts.  For this Christmas, it is a family of three little ones.  They are family #41.  The oldest is a seven year-old boy, and his sister who are six and four. What impressed me about these children is that their wish lists are very modest. Clothes, underwear, hair ties for the girls, and small toys.  The most expensive toy on each of their lists was around $40.00.  I chose to buy a few presents for the four year old because she is very interested in Dora Exploradora.  I figure that if I was a child, I would love Dora Exploradora and her buddy Diego.  On Friday, D and I went to Target.  Every year he buys a couple of presents for a his friends’ son who this year is seven years old.  This child is the only grandchild so he gets a busload of giftevery year. We always get him simple stuff usually one toy which is popular that particular year and an educational toy. Really, D picks out something he would want if once again he were a little boy. I am on a credit card diet, so I had budgeted a limit of $25.00 for the gifts I had to buy. I had planned to buy a toy and some article of clothing for my little person. Target was having a sale, so I knew I would get more for my money if I went there. D and I split up so we could get done faster with the shopping. He couldn’t make up his mind so he came to get me.  I talked him into getting this Transformer computer.  He picked out some thing that shoots nerf balls. Like I said, I let him pick whatever he wants.  We went over to the Dora Exploradora section, and I selected a little Diego toy and a Dora Exploradora castle with a track and little car.  This would ring up to twenty dollars, so I had five dollars left for something else. I had found a couple of dollars in my purse and this would take care of taxes.  I saw the cash register that the little girl wants.  It was on sale.  I told Dave about it and without thinking twice he said, “I’ll get it for her”  After that, we went to the clothing section, and he picked out a cute hoodie and I got the blouse that matched it for her.  I was surprised that he picked out a hoodie and he explained to me, “I know they are popular with kids because they are not allowed to wear them where I work.”  The rest of the afternoon, I felt so good about this shopping expedition.  I like Christmas again….