The holidays are all about family and togetherness, which for some may be a pleasant kind of togetherness and for others, may have a stress rating that is off of the charts. I love my family and the stress level is RELATIVELY low during the holidays. However, there are moments when parents get frustrated with their children and children get frustrated with their parents. In my case the latter probably applies. My stress started a few days prior to the actual holiday when I had to take my mother Christmas shopping. I think it’s true that in old age we regress to our younger years, needing to see the bathroom in every public place, wandering off to the far regions of a department store so that the person responsible for us cannot seem to find us. In the spirit of the holidays, I kept a smile plastered on my face the entire time, because I love my mom and all I really want is for her to be happy and enjoy herself. Shortly after returning home from the shopping trip, I saw the beautiful sight of one of my very best friends pulling into my driveway in her big red truck, which at that point might as well have been a Learjet, taking me on a European Vacation. My dear friend, who is also a member of my “chosen” family, simply got me out of the house and away from the stress of the season, for a few hours and a FEW THOUSAND much needed laughs. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Being on Winter Break, I am missing the friendly faces I am used to seeing around campus and in class.
Christmas Eve was spent with my husband’s family where we do a crazy goofy gift auction. Everyone spends $25 on exchange gifts, and has the chance to auction off their wrapped gifts. We all have $100 in play money to use for bidding. This year my 18 year old twin boys participated for the first time and we all had a blast. The catchphrase of the evening for each auctioneer was “This could save you a LOT OF MONEY!” This applied to such gifts as a paint can pouring lid, glow stick necklaces and a fourth of July hat, a Spongebob Chia Pet, golf balls, throw pillows, a pizza cutter, a picture that says “Happiness” (which provoked the joke that our fake money CAN buy happiness) and my personal favorite: the indestructible Aluma Wallet. My son Cody and I had both purchased the Aluma Wallet without knowing the other had for our gifts. Cody actually bid and won the one I had up for auction. The Aluma Wallet is one of those “As Seen on TV” items. It is waterproof and you can run it over with your car. Just in case you want to go swimming with your wallet, or if you are prone to dropping it in the driveway right behind your tires. So after all of the laughs and the auction, as we pulled into our own driveway, we tried it out… put it behind the tire and backed up. The commercial was right, maybe proving that you CAN believe everything you hear on TV.
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| The Indestructible Aluma Wallet, moments after being run over. |
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