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Here Come the Holidays The holidays are rapidly approaching, and I know that December will be full of papery badness (the academic kind, not the crinkly wrapping kind), so I am doing everything I can now. (The paper, incidentally, is on the effective use of the female child narrator/protagonist in Bapsi Sidhwa's Cracking India and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. I have to narrow it, but that's essentially the broad topic. Did I mention a ten-page draft is due two weeks from tonight? And I have a girls' weekend sandwiched in there?) I just bought two DVD players on amazon.com for my parents and Greg's parents. That might seem like an extravagant gift until you realize that said DVD players are $99.99 each. And they're not made by the Jolly Fats Electronics Company. We're very excited about the coolness of the gift, the cheapness of the price, and the convenience of having them arrive at our doorstep within a week. Did I mention the free shipping? I'd already bought some smaller things for my mom (cool shoes at the Bass outlet; a beautiful business card case; some martini swizzle sticks; other stuff I can't remember - I always overbuy for my mommy, and she's the easiest person in the world to shop for except for Kate, for whom I see things absolutely everywhere) and his mom (a remote thermometer; an herb mill) and my stepfather (a Calphalon pan sporting a nifty sale price). We'll probably give some of the smaller gifts too and save some for approaching birthdays. I stuff a stocking for my mom every year, so some of the teeny things will go in there. For my brother (I don't know if you've ever found this journal, Joe, but if you did, go away! Go away now!) we bought the DVD of Sports Night (thank you, dvdpricesearch.com) and a really nice, really on sale Jack Skellington doll, and a couple of books. I am the Sale Queen. Tremble before me. I bought Greg's big gift on ebay (email me if you want to know what it is) and it is truly the coolest gift anyone ever received, ever. I'm bidding on some other stuff for him right now; I am also the Ebay Queen. Fear me. We need to buy for my grandparents, and for my cousin's daughter. There are some friends we exchange with, so I need to figure out those gifts. I don't exchange with my father or his family (especially since we're apparently not communicating again, but that's another drama for another entry). In December I'll get together with my mom and we'll make candy for her employees and candy for my entertaining purposes and some friends and family. It's shaping up to be a very small Christmas list, though, which is good and easy and I'm done probably half of it and therefore it will be stress-free. It may even be mall-free, except for when the girls and I take one by storm. I'm glad about the low stress part. See, we're hosting Christmas at our house this year for the very first time. That in itself has inherent stress. But New Year's? New Year's won't be stressful. It won't be stressful, because our Christmas gift to Patti (and part of Greg's gift to me) was a plane ticket. Great sale on USAirways + superior-US-exchange-rate + strong desire to see Patti outside of a wedding or convention + Greg's inherent coolness factor + Patti being free those days = wonderful New Year's Eve, no matter what we end up doing. The holidays are coming, people. Are you ready? (The annual card mailing is here! Don't you want a card from me? I think only 12 people want a card from me. I am very sad. I love to mail you cards! I don't even ask you to mail me one back, although I love them if you want to and I save them every year. Send me your address, people. Overseas readers too! Or college student readers who'd like some mail before they leave the dorm - in that case, send me the date your finals end!)
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