I got everything I wanted for Christmas! Did you?
I’m a practical person with no illusions about grand holiday
gifts. And ever since I started working
as a teenager, I drove my mother crazy at the holidays. She would start asking around October or so,
what I would like for Christmas. Of
course, I would have a list. But that
same list was my “wish list” of sorts and I would purchase items on the list as
money allowed making my mother furious.
I never did figure out that I needed to give her a different list. I wonder how many times she had to take
something back. . .
Now, I’m married and have a family. I told the husband all I wanted for Christmas
was new black socks. In fact, I was
explaining the type of socks to him while waiting for one of the boy’s holiday
concerts to start and the mom in front of me started laughing as she had a
similar conversation with her mother. My
black socks, part of the daily winter uniform of black socks and white
turtleneck, had holes, or lost partners.
It had become a challenge to find black socks in the morning and
sometimes I ended up wearing navy.
The husband came through bringing home 3 pairs of black
socks after I had sent him to the store with an example. He even added in a pair of tan socks—for my
non black wearing days.
Another gift the husband came home with was a lovely red
cardigan sweater from Christopher and Banks.
I called our local store and asked if they had the sweater in the color
and size I wanted. They did! I then completed the transaction over the
phone including using a $15 off coupon making the total for the sweater $5 and
change as the sweater was already 40% off!
All the husband needed to do was pick-it up (he said they were waiting
for him when he came into the store and handed him the sack), bring it home,
and put it under the tree.
Another item on my wish list was a new pair of winter
boots. These actually came after
Christmas as I ordered them on-line from HSN as they were a Today’s Special
sometime after the holidays. Oh, and I
found an on-line coupon saving $10 and made money back by shopping through one
of my favorite money saving/making sites—Ebates.com (and there's a great $10 sign-up bonus!)
The husband’s mom delivered with her annual gifts of passes
to our local pool/waterpark. A gift that
keeps on giving and a bargain when purchased in the middle of winter. But, I had an additional gift—a heating
pad. Huh? Okay—there are times when I get so cold that
I go to bed after a hot shower with a hat on, wearing pajamas and a robe that
have been warmed in the dryer and covered with a blanket that has also been
warmed in the dryer. It isn’t often,
thank goodness. And, then there are
those times of the month when a heating pad can bring on major relief. I have one that I keep at work, so while the
husband and his mom were holiday shopping, they happened upon a heating pad and
it became a holiday gift for me!
Add a new pair of slippers—free from Amazon using gift cards
earned through Swagbucks, a pair of brown boots (no more hot gluing on the
heel), a new skillet purchased at Kohl’s using a $10 off coupon, and two new
sets of flannel sheets—one from Kohl’s using another $10 off coupon and another
set on clearance at Target.
Only the slippers, new red sweater, and heating pad were
under the tree. All the rest, I took
care off—crossing them off the list as I went.
Oh, that would have driven my mother crazy!
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