It truly is coming, and so this is my week to switch into mild panic mode. I am not an early shopper, and I have to think about every little thing I buy for at least 2 days--even stocking stuffer's--so you can see my predicament. I had such a great and Christmas-sy weekend with Bob's office party, an hilarious play down in Salt Lake City, and the Christmas concert at the LDS Conference Center that I feel quite transported into the holiday spirit and virtually lofted above the whole pagan present thing. Right. A late night viewing of an old--OK, ancient--Walton's Christmas special has quickly and painfully brought me back to reality. It's time to suck it up and get it done.
This week has been Christmas card week at the shop. Teri loves to receive cards so much that she has concocted this little red pom-pom swag up in the front windows to clip our cards to as they arrive. Of course the first 2 weeks of December they proudly displayed 2 cards from banks, 1 from Christian's Orthodontist, and 1--with a coupon-- from a plumber that we used a number of years ago. Last week, however, things started looking up, and the swags are finally being filled with darling cards from friends far and near. Behind the counter we have a growing collection of photograph greeting cards--1 of my niece Kristin's adorable children (she does our blog and website), 1 of a former employee, Charity with baby Peter, and one of Chyrl's daughter, Stephanie, and her little ones. And right in the midst of these is Teri's prize card sent from Kathy, a friend in England, with a photo of Colin Firth on it. We get a few odd looks about that one, but it may be well past the blessed holiday before it comes down. I don't know, there is something about receiving Christmas cards that just makes you happy.
Did I mention that Teri loves cards. She has been buzzing around taking photos and doing cards from the shop, and now is busy getting her own ready and sent out. She has lost all the various parts of them at least 5 times, but she is completely undaunted, and I have full faith that they will be in the mail shortly. She has even organized Christmas cards for a very elderly friend of ours who has just moved into an assisted living center. She spent last weekend taking pictures of Ruthie in her new home with her beloved cat--you know tiny Santa hat and bells--and this weekend helping her to sign and address them all. In the meantime, the cat passed away. She deserves a gold star or at least a postage stamp--Christmas of course--on her forehead.
Me--I think I like the idea of cards better than the actual doing of them. I have a box of darling ones on my desk at work, a booklet of holiday stamps which I have lost, and 24 photographs of Christian and Lindbergh in the snow which he doesn't want me to send because Peter refused to be in the picture, and he thinks it is terrible that it says "Merry Christmas from the Hermans" when he is the only one in the picture. I told him the dog is in it, too.
So--have a laughing, bustling, ringing, caroling, munching, Christmas carding week.
fondly, Tina
another ps--We just unpacked the long-anticipated Judith Hayle book from Needleprints in England and it is quite fantastic. I can't wait to read it cover to cover.
