A Christmas Rethink

I stood in the middle of Costco, staring at the giant, plastic, pretend kitchen in front of me.

In a daze, I muttered to Jeremy, "How about we buy the kids one BIG present this year...?"

Jeremy had the frantic look of someone who has just been shopping for an hour and is about to implode.

"Uh...Yeah, I guess..." he responded, making it fairly certain he didn't really hear what I said, except in some obscure, subconscious way.

"Yeah..." I mused. One big present. Yeah. Good Idea.

We passed by some giant stuffed bears, and I toyed with giving one to Lily, because of how ridiculously funny it would be for my pint-sized daughter to have such a monstrous thing.

We passed by the children's books, and the movies, and my mind was calculating, trying to decide if we should buy all their Christmas loot then and there, or if we should wait until we could have a babysitter, or or or....

I started feeling krickle.

(I should say that, at this very moment, "Mr. Grinch" is playing on Pandora. Coincidence? I think not...Yes, I'm playing Christmas music in August. I'm trying to be happy, okay? If Costco can put out Christmas lights, I can listen to Christmas music.Sue me.)

It's amazing to me that I keep revisiting this, especially after my blog last year where I ripped Commercialized Christmas a new one.

It's an ingrained habit, I think.

Anyway, I came home feeling a little crumpled (it was probably a mixture of shopping and morning sickness and the samples of sausage I ate).

And then it hit me.

I had an idea.

It was a marvelous idea.

"...the Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!"

It blossomed in my brain, and I KNEW it was what I wanted to do. It would keep that Spirit of Christmas intact that I had tried unsuccessfully year after year to keep unmangled.

This year, my brain said, we would forgo the pile of loot.

This year, my brain said, we would keep sacred the whole point of the holiday.

This year, my brain said, we would give our kids an EXPERIENCE, instead of presents.

This year, we're going to take two days and focus on our little family.

I got giddy.

I was super excited.

And then I got torked 'cause Jeremy wasn't nearly as excited as I was.

"COME ON!" I grinched. "DOESN'T THIS SOUND LIKE FUN???"

"Yeah..." he said, in a what-just-happened, wide-eyed fashion.

"Just think!" I rambled. "We'll drive up to Salt Lake in the morning, go to City Creek, eat lunch, hit the hotel, maybe go swimming, then eat a quick dinner, and then go see the lights at Temple Square! Then we can go back to the hotel and watch a movie with the kids!"

Jeremy started to zone.

"And THEN, then next morning we'll have breakfast (and it's FREE at the hotel!), and then we can go to the reserve at the Great Salt Lake, since it's open all year, or we could go to the zoo, and just spend time with the kids, and focus on them for two days! THAT would be a GREAT Christmas gift! An EXPERIENCE they could cherish! Well...Josh and Eva anyway...Lily and Eden won't remember, but that's the great thing about it! We'll make it our new tradition!"

Jeremy started to twitch.

"And the BEST part??" I continued enthusiastically. "It will leave Christmas open to making cookies, and playing games, and spending time with family, and we won't be spending two hours unwrapping stuff that the kids won't even play with two weeks after! ISN'T THIS THE BEST IDEA EVER?????!!?!?!"

"Yeah," Jeremy managed.

Maybe I came on too strong.

And then it hit me! Another GREAT idea!

"And, the kids would DIE if your Mom came too! You should call her right now!"

Jeremy complied, and couldn't get a hold of her.

I kept pestering him all day long to keep calling her because this was IMPORTANT.

She ended up being at work, so we had to wait.

That night, we gave her some pie and sat her down, and I was just jumping up and down inside to ask her.

When I unloaded the whole idea on her she sat there, semi-stunned, her fork stabbed into the pie.

"So? What do you think?" I pressed.

"Yeah," she said.

Must be genetic.

Well, I'm excited.

Best idea EVER.