"What else should I draw?"
"Santa?"
"No. What else?"
"Rudolph?"
"No, he would kick all the presents. (pause) I know, a conveyor belt!" So he draws a conveyor belt on top of the elves and their hats and tells me, "They are hiding from Santa. They are too tired to do the work."
...
On Saturday Selim and I went into Portsmouth after karate. He wanted new stickers and I wanted him to get a haircut. The drastic cut in London had grown out and it was time for a regular trim. The woman who cut his hair did a great job and managed to tease him about giving him a Mohawk.
He insisted that we wear our festive hats around town. He wore his elf hat and I wore the Santa hat with the fake fur trim. I have no modesty and no shame. What could I do? I know I looked ridiculous, but he was so into the idea of us in hats that I couldn't disappoint.
...
On Sunday Selim had a play date with a boy in his class. I thought I would drop him off and come back to the house and bake or wrap presents, but that wasn't in his plan. "Mom, you aren't leaving me there." And so I didn't. I sat at the kitchen high counter with his friend's mom, drinking tea and talking. She sewed bells on socks while we chatted and it was very nice. The boys played well together and it was nice for me to have adult conversation.
Sunday evening we went to our neighbors' house for dinner. There was another couple there and they had two kids. The five kids played well and Nedim and I got to meet and talk with other parents and it was really great. I brought a plate of Christmas cookies and that was perfect. Selim didn't want us to leave the leftover cookies or the pretty green plate behind. I tried to explain that we had plenty at home, but he wasn't satisfied. Oh well.
...
I finally mailed out the box to California yesterday. I don't have our family calendars back yet -- I just couldn't get my act together and order that in a timely way. That will have to be a New Years gift. It isn't as if Christmas can sneak up on me; the date is always the same. But for some reason, I have a hard time getting everything done that I want in the time frame that it optimum. Sigh. I will have a nice plate of cookies and fudge to take down to the Schongalla family get together and that makes me happy.
Every year at work I have given out little boxes of cookies to my supervisor and team mates. This year I have three team mates who will appreciate the sweets, one who is on the fence about deserts and two who I've never seen eat sugar at all. I don't want to waste my baking on somebody who won't I went to the market and bought eat it and at the same time, I would feel awkward not giving them anything. I decided to get tamari almonds, dried mango, big plump dates and health food store nut brittle and I hope that will be festive enough for those dudes.
I haven't felt very well for a while now and that makes everything harder. I'm so tired. I just have two more work days until I get a nice break. I'm taking the whole week off between Christmas and New Years. I haven't taken a week off for vacation this entire year. I had the month of January at home while I recuperated from surgery and I'm not counting that as vacation. I took two days in Arizona in March and a few days when I returned from London. But that is it. I feel as though my body has reached its limit and I hope I can hang on just two more days.
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