Who Needs Christmas?

Big things are already happening in December with Christmas still a week away.

First, the Wii that I was excited to get online on Black Thanksgiving Night was stolen off our front porch as soon as UPS delivered. I know this because my husband heard the doorbell ring, ignored it, and then got mad at me when I got mad at him as he explained this to me. He immediately went and bought one full price. Sucks to be him. Sucks to be me, too, but relatively speaking, sucks more to be him.

Second, my husband somewhat redeemed himself by doing something fun with his wife on a school night. Here we are tailgating at our first ever Monday Night Football game!

We really didn't drink enough to be leaning like that...he just tries to distance himself from the crazy in public. I know he's very proud of me, inside.

Lastly, I was officially named Knowledge Manager of my company this week while my supervisor works on a six-month strategic project. Not as important as it sounds and I was actually already doing most of the work anyway, so I'm way more stressed about everyone's eyes on me as I am about doing the job. I'm not going to let in ruin my holidays, even though I'll be working through my two weeks of vacation.

So really, who does need Christmas when life can be a curse or a treasure every single day?

UPDATE: My summation of this post might be construed as my ignorance of the true meaning of Christmas. As a Christian, I do know the true meaning of Christmas. I was commenting on the secular view of the season and how we, as a society, put so much energy into what Christmas now represents, when we should be living our whole lives with a reverence for the balance of give and take. Thanks for understanding.

Christmas Before Thanksgiving?!?!?

I usually take the tradition of not recognizing the impending joy of the Christmas season until the day after the day after Thanksgiving.  (Yes, there are intentionally two day afters in there.)  However, it looks like my short-lived day after Thanksgiving tradition of visiting the Texas Renaissance Festival without The Kitten is most definitely short-lived, because the only companions I can find to visit with me today are my parents who are supposed to be watching The Kitten. And...I've already started shopping. Gasp!

On Wednesday, I bought my in-laws a GPS after checking out the online Black Friday deals, and last night, I bought The Kitten a Wii as soon as Best Buy opened up their online Black Friday deals.  Of course, I added Wii Fit to my wish list shortly thereafter.  Have I ever mentioned how much my agoraphobia loves the interwebs?  As if it wasn't obvious.

Now, with my plans dashed thanks to stupid Houston weather and my wonderful cable internet connection that never goes out, Christmas has come early to Catazonia.  I may even start decorating the house today.  Yaaaaay...

UPDATED: Yep, I'm done...

I Should Get Paid for This

I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I'm socially inept at gift-giving. I can usually disguise it by showing up with a bottle of Patron everywhere I go, but it gets harder to hide that major personality flaw around the holidays. The Kitten, (most of) the nieces and nephews, and the in-laws aren't really interested in getting drunk and naked, you know.

What I am going to harp on is that fact that it's socially acceptable to maintain a wishlist nowadays. Get your butt online and start one. Check out this helpful post on Lifehacker for some top wishlist tools. A wishlist not only makes life easier for your socially-inept loved ones, it also organizes your own thoughts. I would never be able to keep track of what The Kitten wants for Christmas if I didn't rush to Amazon everytime her eyes widen.

By the way, if you haven't been using a reader to follow interesting blogs like Lifehacker, you really are living in the dark ages. Haven't you heard that blogs are dying a slow, painful death? Oh, wait, that's just mine.

Pets, Plants, and Parenting

I used to joke about staying away from the Three P's of Responsibility: Pets, Plants, and Parenting. As long as I was free of pets, plants, and kids, my life would be perfect. Then my realtor gave me a houseplant when we moved into our current home and swore that it was one even I couldn't kill. It was all downhill from there.

Two years later, The Kitten came along, and while I'm not the greatest mother in the world, she doesn't complain...much. Her father...now that's a different story. However, we survived her first teenage fit last week when we wouldn't take her to the rodeo on our night off...remember, she's only five. By the way, I received another houseplant at the birth of my only child, and both plants are miraculously still alive. So, I think I've got the plants and the parenting down, but guess what?

I killed off another pet. Last year, we had the hamsters, Beautiful Sparkle and Foola, who lasted about six and eight months, respectively. Just a few days ago, I introduced you to Sparkly the Turtle, who The Kitten received for Christmas. Obviously, Sparkly didn't enjoy having her picture plastered all over the web, and she finally gave up this weekend after not eating a damn thing for the past two months. And yes, I did try to feed her! Maybe third time's a charm on the pet thing? What should we kill get for Christmas this year?

Why Can't Every Day Be Like Christmas?

Every day can be like Christmas if you give the gift that keeps on giving. (And I say that sarcastically.)

Santa brought The Kitten a hamster. Actually, Santa put a hamster house under the tree, and Mommy took The Kitten to the mall to pick out a hamster. We decided on a white hamster with a gray face. She was a very skinny girl who didn't get that much bigger in the past week. So how did she pop out five more hamsters yesterday afternoon? Hmmm...

Guess that untimely death I was already scheming up will have to wait a few weeks.

Another Caturday at Work

So you get another cat picture.



I give you two cats (or parts thereof) for the price of one. Catazon and The Kitten dream of a purple Christmas while decorating their Brawler Christmas tree. Now that's the holiday spirit!

A Librarian for Christmas

Leigh Buchanan, editor-at-large for Inc., just became every librarian's best friend. In her December column for the magazine, Ms. Buchanan lists the Christmas presents she would give to every reader if she could. At #5 on the list...a librarian.

Hey, all you employers that ignore my resume because I'm a seasoned librarian applying for a position in marketing or some other job that doesn't EXACTLY match my years of experience, listen up! According to Ms. Buchanan, I know "what's what." And that's that...

Merry Christmas!

Plans are already being made for celebrating the season...Goldie BloXX and I are throwing a party! Karaoke will be the featured activity (what a surprise!), and we will ask for minimal donations for your share of the alcohol. More details to come later; just keep us in mind. Goldie and I have both been through some hard times this year, and we would really love to share some good times with our friends.

MMMMMMwah!