Christmas Comes Early

The parents left today for points South and, while we'll miss them, their early departure does have a side benefit. It means we get our Christmas shopping done before the malls turn into the all-out brawls they always become by December 15th. We avoid the madness!

Not that we have a lot of shopping to begin with - there's Mom & George, My Sister's Kids in Texas, and my Nana here in Ottawa - but by heading south before Hallowe'en, my folks start a chain reaction of gifting. First, to save postage, we get them to carry their own gifts South with them, so Mom & George are the first to get done. But then, before they leave, Mom needs to buy Nana her gift, and this year we joined forces, so we got Nana's at the same time. And finally, while Arizona might be the final destination, the road leads right through Dallas, and the Lexus is as good as any courier - and a heckuva lot cheaper. So we buy for the boys and ship it down with the folks.

Piled

And that is how Christmas shopping is done. To be fair, we still have Dad & Louise in New Brunswick to buy for, but otherwise we're done.

By the same token, the snowbirds need to finish their shopping before they mosey, and that means we have our nicely wrapped boxes ready to open come Christmas morn. This year though, our major gift was unwrappable: a load of firewood. And it came already. A big dump truck came and dropped a face cord of firewood in our driveway at noon yesterday, leaving us with the task of stacking it neatly in the garage.

There it will stay, dry and warm until we're ready for a snowy afternoon curled up with a book and a glass of Zin. Not looking forward to the weather, but can't wait for the toasty fire! So drop on by and we'll throw a log on! As you can see, we have plenty.

Stacked

CarParked