Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

I Guess The Going's Still Tough

If it seemed like I was feeling a little guilty about my shopping expedition yesterday, I suppose I was.

Until I realized this:

It's only five more shopping days until the first night of Chanukah.

Suddenly, shopping is one of the zillion things on my to-do list. In fact, it's now at the TOP of that list.

I got Megan a pair of leather UGG boots that will keep her tootsies warm and dry when we go to Park City at the end of December. (The place Mary Ellen found was amazing: Decker's in Ventura -- not a lot of selection, but prices were way below those of the official Ugg store at the Camarillo Premium Outlets, which we hit on the way back.)

One down, eight gifts to go.

Except for one thing: my dad emailed me yesterday to let me know that he and my mom were unable to go on their usual orgy of Chanukah shopping for my kid, so they are sending me a check so I can do it for them. That's 15 presents I need to buy and wrap by Tuesday.

And when that's over, I have to do it again for Christmas. Because the husband's side of the family gets equal time.

It's a tough job, but I think I'm up for it.

So here I am, armed with Megan's wish list, at the Westfield Topanga Plaza (which has everything from Target to Nordstrom).  Right now, I'm drinking a latte and stealing wifi from the Sony Store while I wait for the shops to open (this is a good spot, because if I couldn't get it from Sony, the Apple store is right above).

Wish me luck!

Ennui

The kid got through an entire day fever-free!

She's back at school!!

I can go back to work without interruptions!!!

Um. I'm just not feeling it.

I have a zillion things I should be doing, and I don't want any part of it.

So when my friend Mary Ellen (who is now happily unemployed after the finale of DWTS) called to ask if I felt like going with her to an UGGS outlet, how was I to answer, other than OF COURSE!

You know what they say -- when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.

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One more thing I should mention before we head to the outlet mall: Kristy from BlogHer Conferences sent out a bulletin yesterday announcing that reservations are now open for BlogHer '08, which is set for July 16-21 in beautiful San Francisco. And they're using my all time favorite SF hotel, The Westin St. Francis. Kristy pointed out that making a reservation (which can later be modified or cancelled) doesn't cost a thing. So I've gone ahead and put myself down for one. You can too, by clicking here.

Oops. I Almost Forgot

Between last week's Thanksgiving events...

And next week's Chanukah extravaganza...

And this month's Christmas/New Year/Skiing Trip festivities...

And three days of caring for a sick child...

I nearly forgot.

Today is my husband's birthday!

Um, if he's reading this:

I didn't get you anything.

There's been no time to shop. And not a lot of money either, after blowing a fortune on my weight loss program.

So my gift to you is a 40-pounds slimmer, healthier wife who will be around to nag you for many more years.

I love you, Hubby.

You're welcome.

Holiday Schizophrenia

Thanksgiving is truly over. The weather in SoCal has turned a tad chilly (it's in the 60's -- that's cold for us!)

The husband is back at work even though he's still feeling crappy, and the child is running a fever for the second day in a row. I can feel something coming on, too -- which may be my imagination because I've been surrounded by sick people, or it could be real -- so I'm cramming Zicam gel up my nose every couple of hours.

Like the song says: "It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas."

But first, I have to deal with Chanukah, which arrives early this year: at sundown on December 4. ONE WEEK FROM TODAY.

And do you think I've done any shopping for the holiday yet? If so, you obviously don't know me.

Sure, I've thought about it. I had to -- I was asked by the editors of BlogHer to contribute a Hanukkah post for their Holiday Gift Guide. (It's running today, btw -- check it out here.) So it's not like I don't have any idea what to get my family. I just haven't gotten around to doing anything about it.

I've formulated a vague plan to invite my college student niece and nephew over for Chanukah dinner over that weekend. I may even ask one of my daughter's friends and her parents over, too. But aside from that, I've got nothing.

On top of that, once we get Chanukah out of the way, I have to also think about Christmas -- because that's my husband's holiday tradition and in our family, we acknowledge both. For the last couple of years, we have gone to Britain to spend the Yuletide season with my in-laws, but we're staying in California this year.

That doesn't mean we're staying home. Because my brother-in-law just started a new job, he's unable to take the time off to come down to SoCal to spend Christmas at his mom's house, so this year, WE are joining them up in Sacramento. I'm excited, because my sister and I get to create some NEW family traditions.

"Right. We've got two Jews planning Christmas. What's wrong with this picture?" was my husband's reaction.

I can't blame him. My sister and I have a complicated relationship with this holiday. On the one hand, because it's not our tradition, neither one of us is all that into decorating the house. Oh, we'll put up a few things to make the rooms feel more festive. We just don't feel like investing a lot of time and money into the stuff you see in Martha Stewart Living. 

The tree is especially vexing. It's beautiful and all that, but I get nervous about watering it. I can't keep the cats from playing with the ornaments or from eating (and then vomiting up) the needles. I have trouble seeing the point when we're not going to be here on Christmas Day.

"We're getting a tree," my husband said adamantly. "Just a small one. OK??" That was not a question. It was more of a there's-no-point-in-arguing-about-this.

OK.

On the other hand, both my sister and I go nuts over the food (because that's the way we are). We both have a collection of classic Christmas movies on DVD, which we insist on watching every year. It just wouldn't be Christmas for us without "Miracle on 34th Street," "The Bishop's Wife," "Christmas in Connecticut," and of course -- "It's a Wonderful Life."

And last night, I spent about an hour transferring my collection of Christmas CD's onto my iPod.

This kind of schizophrenic behavior has both our husbands shaking their heads, and I can understand why. The best explanation we can think of is the fact of growing up a minority, but still being a part of the culture. We went to school at a time when it was not just OK to promote Christianity in public schools, it was expected. And we didn't question it. If we wanted to fit in, we participated. So we sang Christmas carols in the school choir, made Christmas decorations for the classroom -- and learned to separate the parts that were cultural from the bits that conflicted with our religious beliefs.

To this day, we love the music, love the stories, and can even feel something that might be described as "Christmas Spirit," which I define as a belief that there can be peace on earth and goodwill toward all.

Now excuse me. My daughter and I have a date to see Kris Kringle at Macy's -- in glorious black and white.

They're Dropping Like Flies Over Here

The biggest downer of our Thanksgiving holiday was that my husband was suffering from a virus he thinks he picked up at work. He was uncomfortable and cranky all weekend, and it's been so bad that he worked from home today.

My sister also came down with the bug and says that she spent all day yesterday in bed (I wished I could veg in front of the TV with her, instead of driving 400+ miles back home).

Around 9:00 last night, my nephew started feeling it, too (I decided to drive him back to his dorm today instead of adding another couple of hours to our trip yesterday). I gave him the unopened box of Zicam I'd been saving for cold season.

At midnight, Megan crawled out of bed, telling me she wasn't feeling well, either.  A quick thermometer reading of 101 and a dose of Children's Motrin later, I sent her back to bed.

Needless to say, I did not get to spend this first day back from the holiday the way I'd planned.

On the one hand, it was nice to have the hubs in the house so I didn't have to drag the sick child with me when I drove Alex to Camarillo and myself back home.

On the other hand, it's hard to get anything done when you are being interrupted every few minutes because one of them needs something.

The one highlight of my day was when I stopped off at Starbucks after my morning weigh-in (I actually LOST almost two pounds over the weekend! WOO HOO!) and I saw this for sale at the counter. People who only know me as a mild mannered matron would probably never take me for a teenage headbanger, but for me, the 1970's were NOT about John Travolta in a white suit dancing to the Bee Gees. I was more of a hard rock, Led Zeppelin kind of gal, and for months, I've been lamenting the fact that I don't have any LZ on my iPod.

So, of course, I made an impulse buy. And I listened to the two-CD set while driving the nephew to his campus... and driving back... and then I decided to take the long way home (I know. That's more of a Supertramp reference). I stayed on the 101 past Malibu Canyon (where the skies were clear of smoke from the weekend's fire, thank goodness) to the 405 north to the 118. It just felt so good to be out in the sunshine, listening to the golden oldies -- and AWAY from the needy, flu-y loved ones at home.

Three hours later, I finally walked in the door, laden with groceries, comfort food and another box of Zicam.