All I Want For Christmas Is...I Have No Idea

Evan will be home for Christmas! Gift enough for me!

It’s that time of year again—time to wrack my brain and come up with a couple of items my family can “surprise” me with on Christmas morning. I’m not (remotely) an inspired gift-giver; it’s even worse when the Christmas stocking is on the other foot, so to speak. But I do have to try and think of something for under the tree on December 25th.

Rose has posted a “Draw Names” page for us. “Draw Names” is a higher-tech online version of the hat we used to pull slips of paper from on Thanksgiving evening for Secret Santa. The hat was always problematic, because A) rarely were we all together on Thanksgiving and B) I would invariably lose my slip of paper by bedtime, and forget who my lucky recipient was. In any event, we’re all matched up now, and several folks have posted their wish lists. Others, including me, have not yet committed to sharing any Yuletide heart’s desires. 

 

So what the heck DO I want?

 

Well, there are no gift cards redeemable for world peace, alas. Nor is it feasible to ask my family for a positive response from The New Yorker regarding my latest humor essay. And while I would just adore a little beachfront cottage in Lewes, I’m afraid my Secret Santa would have a ho-ho-heart attack over the astronomical price tag. 

 

Otherwise? I’m all set for clothes, especially since I no longer work at church. My typical “office attire” these days is jeans and whichever sweater I bump into first when I open my dresser drawer. I wear almost zero makeup, and I can make one bottle of cologne last a year. I have enough earrings to open a jewelry store. As for the spare bedroom I’ve fixed up at home as my writer’s space, I have plenty of plants and wall hangings and desk doodads. Moving to the kitchen, I would definitely enjoy an ice cream maker, but we have no room for one (and I have no business eating any more ice cream than I already do.)

 

Our family room looks rather spiffy these days, which makes our living room’s “shabby chic” décor appear infinitely more shabby than chic. I floated the idea of requesting a new sofa and armchairs, but then we examined the budget and I floated it right back down. 

 

I guess buying me a knee replacement is unrealistic too.

 

I know I’m a pain to shop for, in the grand tradition of older people everywhere. Our wants do diminish as we age. Even so, I know I will love whatever is in the package sporting my name, from whichever dear one picked me. Aiden and Peter just went to the elementary school holiday shop with a few bucks from Mama, and Aiden was super excited to reveal that he bought me something for Christmas. That’s so sweet, and I can’t wait to find out what he selected.

 

Does the Jarrettown Holiday Shop stock new knees, I wonder?

All I need is love--truly!