Christmas Torture

Winter weather is here, which means that Zelda is starting to molt and turn into a snowman.


It also means that Oliver can put his obedience training to use and stoke the fire like we taught him to. Put another log in the stove for mama! Good boy!!


Mark and I went on our annual "Let's Fight All Day and Buy Christmas Present in the City" field trip. Has anyone else ever tried to go shopping with Mark? Other than grocery shopping I mean. If it's for groceries, he's all over that. Shopping for presents though? A new pair of shoes? Or, perish the thought, new pants because SOMEBODY doesn't have a SINGLE pair of jeans that still contain an intact hem because he fidgets and picks them apart all day? No way. It's the only time he gets tense and uptight.

He stands stiffly inside the store, his jaw clenches, and he asks repeatedly if we're done yet, even though he knows the answer. It's the closest that we come to fighting every year. Over time, we've developed a strategy that works for both of us (more or less). We have to make a gigantic, detailed list of what we need to get for everybody on our Christmas list. I tell Mark which day we are going to go into "The City" to go shopping, and then he books a band practice on that day. I make him cancel it. I book the dogs into the kennel for the day. As the date approaches he makes plans to go hiking with a friend on the agreed-upon shopping day. I make him cancel it. He apologizes by claiming to have forgotten we were going shopping.

The fateful day arrives and we start out on the two-hour drive, stopping halfway to refuel on Just Us Coffee. Then the shopping begins, and we pick at each other for being too impatient (Mark) /slow (Julie), or too unrealistic (Mark) / unfocused (Julie). He tells me to hurry; I tell him to help me pick a gift then. He walks morosely behind me and I pretend not to notice that he's DYING because we're SHOPPING WAY TOO MUCH.

Magically, we end up tired and broken at the end of the day in Chapters. It's the same every year. The sun will have set and my feet ache. Our stamina is gone and we wander giddily around the store searching against all hope for the last elusive perfect present for our cherished friends and family.

Winter is here and the sun's strength has left us. It's less than a month until Christmas and we've made it back from The City relatively unscathed, and now we can look forward to chocolates, tinsel, family, friends, and warm celebration on cold, dark nights.