Fa La La....
It's getting to seem a lot like Christmas. Which means I better get stated with my gift selections. For at least the last 10 years I have made an, apparently, not to solemn vow to start purchasing Christmas gifts at least by October. I have failed miserably in this vow. Why I make the vow is beyond me, knowing full well that I'll be stuck in the same frantic shopping spree come the last days preceeding Christmas. As many know, I have been a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous for well over a decade and one key concept we have is this. "Acceptance is the key to my serenity". Acceptance of the way the world is and the way people are. This is coupled with the serenity prayer, a pearl of wisdom, that also states that you should try and change the things you can.
Apparently I will never change my last minute Christmas gift buying so I might as well accept this fact, lose the stress and just get used to buying gifts for the family in a mad dash. Maybe it has something to do with living on the edge..the challenge of getting it all done in two days. More likely it's just plain sloth.
Gratitude is another key concept I have learned in AA. I'm grateful that Christmas this year is on a Saturday giving me five full days to get it all done. But what I'm really grateful for this year is a bride who really does, I think, like to shop and knowing me well has already started buying gifts for some of my family. Two nieces done today and she always seems to know what little Jack wants and gets it for me, leaving me free to get him a little something extra.
And this year she spoke right up telling me what she really would like. A romantic and memorable gift from me that says......"I love you". A vacuum cleaner. We have two already, but what she wants is one of the new high tech Dyson's with root cyclone technology. The ones that generate 100,000 G's of suction, or so they say. Coincidentally, we read an article about them in the Southwest Airlines magazine on the way to Houston last week and they did sound very intersting. Anything that can generate a 100,000 G's of suction is interesting to me and it should suck the dog smell right out of the carpet and frankly will be good for my allergies. This kind of gift, though, takes me back to my childhood when I used to give my Mother pots and pans for Christmas, useful but somehow not to giftlike. I'll probably be getting her some other little token of my affection also.
It's getting to seem a lot like Christmas. Which means I better get stated with my gift selections. For at least the last 10 years I have made an, apparently, not to solemn vow to start purchasing Christmas gifts at least by October. I have failed miserably in this vow. Why I make the vow is beyond me, knowing full well that I'll be stuck in the same frantic shopping spree come the last days preceeding Christmas. As many know, I have been a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous for well over a decade and one key concept we have is this. "Acceptance is the key to my serenity". Acceptance of the way the world is and the way people are. This is coupled with the serenity prayer, a pearl of wisdom, that also states that you should try and change the things you can.
Apparently I will never change my last minute Christmas gift buying so I might as well accept this fact, lose the stress and just get used to buying gifts for the family in a mad dash. Maybe it has something to do with living on the edge..the challenge of getting it all done in two days. More likely it's just plain sloth.
Gratitude is another key concept I have learned in AA. I'm grateful that Christmas this year is on a Saturday giving me five full days to get it all done. But what I'm really grateful for this year is a bride who really does, I think, like to shop and knowing me well has already started buying gifts for some of my family. Two nieces done today and she always seems to know what little Jack wants and gets it for me, leaving me free to get him a little something extra.
And this year she spoke right up telling me what she really would like. A romantic and memorable gift from me that says......"I love you". A vacuum cleaner. We have two already, but what she wants is one of the new high tech Dyson's with root cyclone technology. The ones that generate 100,000 G's of suction, or so they say. Coincidentally, we read an article about them in the Southwest Airlines magazine on the way to Houston last week and they did sound very intersting. Anything that can generate a 100,000 G's of suction is interesting to me and it should suck the dog smell right out of the carpet and frankly will be good for my allergies. This kind of gift, though, takes me back to my childhood when I used to give my Mother pots and pans for Christmas, useful but somehow not to giftlike. I'll probably be getting her some other little token of my affection also.
