X'mas Mad

I'm determined to celebrate Christmas properly this year for two reasons. One, Bill and I are celebrating our first Christmas as a couple this year. The second reasons is that I didn't get to celebrate Christmas in the past two years 'cause I was in the hospital.

The problem is, I only have a vague idea of what is involved in Christmas preparation. The last time I did any preparation for Christmas was almost 6 years ago in Vancouver. Even then, all it means is that I got a tree from Home Depot, decorated it, and put empty boxes of fake gifts on the bottom. I can't do the same thing this year. I've got to do it properly.

Desperate, I did what I usually do whenever I'm lost on the path to becoming a real home-maker: check out Martha's website.

The school term ended on Thursday, December 11th. I checked out Martha's website the day after. However, I felt defeated as soon as the front page appeared. It said "100 Days to Christmas -- your holiday planning guide". ONE HUNDRED days?!?! Martha sure knows how to be organized.

Since it was way too late for me to follow Martha's planning guide, I sought out alternatives. I went to the bookstore and quickly scanned the covers of all the home-making magazines. A few minutes later, I found the perfect one: "Simply Joyful: 249 Easy Ideas for the Holidays". Easy is good. Easy is all I can do at this point. Not to mention there are two hundred and forty-nine of these ideas.

When in a bookstore, one must read a few lines of the newest books and test-write the latest pens. Yes, pens. That's another thing that is really good in Asia. Pens in Asia are cheap (less than a buck) and they are silky smooooooooth. While I was enjoying the 4-color ball point pen and trying to justify paying NT$160 (US$5) for it, I experienced flashing images of Shellee's "Krissmas card" before my eyes. Of course! A light bulb moment (In Jack Nicholson's voice please): How could we forget Christmas cards and how could one write many many many X'mas cards without a pen one truly enjoys?

With MY new pen in hand, I headed to the card section of the bookstore. There was a large table with all kinds of X'mas stuff on it: apple cinnamon candles, incense, and soap mixed with red, green, gold, and silver bows, balls, and stars. A-Ha! Among those shiny knick-knacks lay boxes of Christmas cards. I picked one up and put it down. Then I picked another one up and put it down. They were all Hallmark cards imported from the States, and they cost an arm and a leg! Not that I don't want to spend money on our family and friends, it just didn't make sense to me. Why would anyone spend money on X'mas cards that were imported from the States in the first place and send them to friends and family in the States? If I wanted to do that, I could just ask you to pick up a Hallmark card for yourself at Safeway.

Anyway, I didn't buy them. I can't tell you what I ended up buying here because it's more fun for you to find out when you receive yours.

Back to the 249 easy ideas for the holidays... most of them require more preparation that we don't seem to have time for. Last weekend, Bill and I tended to the house and the patio, getting them organized (see the previous post below). When Monday rolled along, Bill went back to his 8-hour working schedule, and I started writing X'mas cards. I didn't know how time-consuming it was to write these little cards! It also took a bit of time for us to get addresses from people. Aside from writing cards, I also had marking to do 'cause I had to finish teaching an academic writing class at another university last Tuesday and Thursday. In other words, the only X'mas-related thing I did in the first 3 weekdays of this week was that I put up little X'mas bows here and there, which was entirely my own idea and not from the magazine.

After the writing class on Thursday, I stopped by the "Taipei Pot Plant Auction" (It's not a typo. It is exactly what it says on the front of that building in Taipei) and picked up a few pots of Poinsettia. Bill and I had planned to shop for X'mas decoration that night, but we ended up going to IKEA and picked up a few more things for the apartment... non-X'mas things.

It is exactly one week to X'mas, and I'd just finished all the X'mas cards. I'm not sure if you will all get yours in time for Christmas, but this is our first time doing X'mas as a couple and we tried. We still have to decorate the apartment, and I really need to start baking cookies. Oh, did I mention that we still don't know what we're going to make for the X'mas dinner that is going to take place in our apartment this coming Thursday? Aaahhhh~ I'm. not. freaking. out.

I'm sure next week Martha's front page will change to "Last Minute X'mas Ideas: what to do when you're out of time". Maybe she'll have a recipe for instant turkey.