celebrations
tuesday, december 10, 2002


yesterday was shebop's birthday. my youngest is now 9. i swear they grow too fast! we hadn't really planned on much of anything for her because of the financial difficulties, although saxy was planning to take her out for pizza today. and she really didn't get a party or anything, but she did get more than we expected because saxy's parent came over with a gift, cake, and ice cream. so she actually got sung to and had a small celebration. shebop is easy to please and enjoyed it even though it was less than spectacular. their gift to her was a toy cat. not just any toy cat, but a black cat that meows and purrs and hisses. she absolutely loves it.

but the surprise for us came when they were leaving. they handed us money to spend on christmas presents. now, we will tell the kids that grandma and grandpa made them possible, but it was really nice to be able to go shopping for them, saxy did the actual shopping, i just helped with input the night before.

his parents have been incredibly supportive and they never say a word about the money they've given or loaned us this year, which is completely unlike my ex-mil who made sure we knew who had given us any money and that she now had every right to tell us what to do. it's a very nice change. they said that amazon.com confused them, but i think they also wanted to make sure we had a christmas. when saxy and i split last year, they became more reserved about me, a feeling that seemed to have persisted for months after we got back together. but they have taken the kids in as their own grandchildren and i guess they couldn't see them not having something of a christmas this year.

so today saxy went out and went shopping. his first stop was the book store. the poor man called me later with sticker shock. apparently he chose a few things from each kid's and my book list and still spent over $200! i had to laugh at how upset he sounded about it, but i told him it was ok. the kids would have new stuff to read that they wanted and that would make them happy. he had also picked up some calendars for next year, but he's going to take most of them back. and he did go by walmart and get a few non-book items. i won't reveal more than that here as i think the oldest reads the journal from school. and, actually, i think she's the only one who didn't get books! lol

because we were doing the christmas lists together, i already received my presents: the heralds of valdemar trilogy by mercedes lackey (i've wanted it for ages!), the harry potter box set for the first 4 books (yes, i actually enjoyed the books), a lotr calendar, and "fever" cd by kylie minogue. he also picked up a couple of dvd's and we'll be watching e.t. for family movie night this saturday.

yes, saxy's parents were very generous.

as usual, the kids will go with dad on christmas eve. that's when we'll watch the harrison ford dvd's he picked up and wrap the remaining gifts. there's no tree to put them under, but that's ok. we're getting more of a christmas than we really expected, although i was quite content with just having the christmas dinner. his folks will be joining us for that on christmas day as well and i'm really looking forward to it. i'm really glad grandma is feeling better. she just has to watch her diet and we discussed what we are planning for dinner this year to make sure it's going to be ok for her. all's well and she offered to bring a few of the things we had taken off the dinner list.

i sent out my few christmas cards today. since i made them with materials i already had at home, they only really cost me postage (although i need stamps now if i am to send out another story on the submission-go-round any day soon). i did discover that i really need to update my address book though. yeesh! a few people won't be getting cards because of that, but it's not like i could afford to send out a whole bunch of cards anyway. even though i had stamps on hand, i didn't have that many.

you know, yesterday i spoke to a friend about the situation i don't want to discuss here and i told her that it was time for me to get in a good place again. it was kind of a "light bulb experience," but, as i think about it now, i realize that in a way i have been in a good place. there's been some ups and some real downs lately; it's been a tough year in a lot of ways and we've been financially strained for some time, but, really, i'm content. i am in a good place. there are so many things other than money and material goods that measure our lives and i'm seeing those things and realizing just how rich i truly am.

and that's worth celebrating more than anything else.