Christmas Shopping

We're done shopping for the boys!

This is an epochal statement for us. I generally consider Christmas Eve to be the only reasonable time to begin shopping. Zorak generally considers whenever I get around to it to be a perfectly reasonable time to do it. It's not perfect, by any means, but it seems to work.

This year, however, we had our trade day with the Wonderful Neighbors, so Zorak and I didn't have to split up for shopping. We also weren't wondering this year whether to float the electric bill or the rent for the month in order to buy gifts. It's nice not being a college family anymore.

We managed to find everything we needed, enjoy a stop at The Outback for an appetizer (their aussie fries with cheese are really quite good!) and still get back in under four hours. Oh yeah, that's the way to do it.

Have you ever been out shopping, wondering what to get for someone when suddenly your eyes light upon IT? THE gift for that person. There's no questioning, no pondering, no weighing: this is it. That happened to us today, and boy does it feel great! (Although if you aren't done shopping for others, you'll find yourself wandering around staring at anything that's for sale, trying to get that same feeling again. It doesn't always come and you find yourself staring at some mighty strange things in the attempt.) We turned a corner and there, in all its plastic, brightly-colored glory, was the biggest pirate ship ensemble I have ever seen. It is gigantic. It has three pirates, all of whom are missing at least one body part each! It has a cannon that actually shots big pewter-colored plastic cannon balls!

How cool is that when you're four years old and think the most influential person in the world is a toss up between Captain Nemo and Sinbad? Yeah, that was definitely the best pick we made this year. I cannot wait to see John's face when he opens it on Christmas morning.

We found wonderful gifts for James and John, too. We didn't hit on the "Oh-My-Gosh, that's PERFECT" item for either of them, but I know they'll be tickled pink. Jacob is getting his first bike-like thingy. No pedals, low to the ground. He loves the one the Wonderful Neighbors have, and now that he doesn't tip over quite so easily, we think he'll have fun with it. Good stuff when you're a short-legged smidget. He'll be thrilled.

For James, we found a set of magnetic building things. (They're in the car and Zorak is in search of a plunger, so I can't give you the name.) It's whatever Wal-Mart carries that's comparable to GeoMags. If he likes them, we'd like to expand the set. If they aren't strong enough, but he really enjoys them otherwise, then we'll buy the GeoMags from Rainbow Resource Center. He really wanted something to do with circuits, but we couldn't find anything locally and just aren't ready to deal with shipping this close to the holiday. I think he'll enjoy them, though. Although we can't decide if we want to just wrap the box, or if we want to build something with them Christmas Eve and then cover it for him to discover Christmas morning. What do you think?

Ah, and it's the first day of Christmas! I'm off to corner Zorak and subject him to my whimsical ideas regarding the holidays. ;-)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy