TGIF - Day 5

Woke up late and had to work early this morning, so my 'round the block adventures' will have to take place this evening. I can tell a difference already as I feel a bit antsy this afternoon, but am hoping that multi-tasking on the blog will help keep me temporarily distracted.

This weekend, I will also reluctantly pull out the boxes of Christmas decorations and sift through them to see what has survived the packing and moving. I still refuse to put anything up as it is waaaay too early (for me). But I'm pretty sure some of my Fall decor is mixed in with the batch and that I will display with merriment and joy.

I haven't started Christmas shopping yet. I'm horrible about Christmas shopping. I don't really know how to set a budget or make a definitive list. If I were to cut down my holiday spending it would look something like:
85%: David and Christina
5%: Jason
10%: Everybody else
We've had some really rough holidays in past years. When Jason and I left UoP and went on tour, we made our yearly salary by mid-summer but had a hard time making it last through the winter. Thank goodness for holiday events and corporate gigs! We were scarcely able to put food on the table and relied on the kindness of strangers... well, friends and family, really. My mom would send care packages of groceries, Lois and Brent let us tag along on their Costco membership, Maren surprised us once with bags of goodies... and we bought our stocking stuffers at the Dollar Store. We couldn't afford a tree, so we had a 'Christmas Chair' instead. Yup. A 'Christmas Chair'. The kids and I decorated our big overstuffed chair with tinsel, ornaments and bows. A few years later, we would 'paint' our Christmas Tree on a huge wall mirror and tape the tinsel and ornaments to it, giving at least a 2-D effect.
Because we've been blessed with enough work through the holidays, I think I overcompensate for those earlier years by spoiling the kids as much as possible. They were always such good sports about those sparse Christmases and I think they only brought us closer together as a family.
This year, I'm hoping I can rein myself in a bit. Some of my holiday budget will be going towards David's 16th birthday. Lord. Sixteen. It doesn't seem possible. He deserves something special and has been working really hard this year. He's struggled his entire life with learning disabilities and was finally diagnosed as high-functioning autistic, but has been mainstreamed this year at his High School. He's making some great strides, but still struggles quite a bit with the reading and writing required. Despite a few missteps early in the semester, he has been showing a lot of focus and responsibility and I'm really proud of him.
However, I don't know what to call his birthday... it's a 'sweet sixteen' for a girl... is it a 'super sixteen'?... a 'sick sixteen'?... I'm not hip to the lingo.

And on that note, I'm afraid I must return to the world of editing and brochure-making. Joy.
Happy Opening to all those that are getting ready to open shows this week! And a blessed tech week to those that labor on the precipice.