Christmas Highs and Lows

Yesterday's post was a bit sad and woeful (since at the moment I am feeling a bit sad and woeful) so I thought I would point out some other unrelated lows and also HIGHS of this holiday season! And here's hoping a trip to the doctor tomorrow afternoon can fix whatever the heck is wrong with me. Part of me just knows that now that I have made the doctor's appointment I will wake up tomorrow symptom-free and good as new. It always happens that way, doesn't it?

Low - sleeping in on Friday and not getting on the road early like I had planned.
High - remembering that I had already packed up all of my gifts days before, so it made it a snap to get out of the apartment and on the road quickly.
Low - realizing halfway up I-95 that in my speedy packing job, I had forgotten to pack any underwear. Yup, all I had was the pair I was currently wearing.
High - then immediately realizing that I was close to my usual "halfway point" stop where there also happens to be a Target nearby.
Low - being in line with tons of people buying wrapping paper, ribbon, cards, and other last minute Christmas goodies while I am standing there holding a couple pairs of underwear I found on clearance. Because no, I am not paying more for cute ones when I am just buying them out of necessity/desperation.
High - getting up to my parent's house in PA in just about 3 hours including the stop to purchase underwear. Normally the drive would be 3 hours and some change if there was only a quick bathroom stop and NO traffic.
High - I guess I should put a second high in here that I didn't get pulled over because clearly I was speeding the whole drive up.
Low - getting home and feeling tired and just kind of spent. Not very Christmas-y.
High - letting my Mom talk me into going to dinner at the diner with her. God I miss not having more real diners down here in the DC area. I swear my $14 dinner was enough food to last 3 or 4 meals.
Low - this man came into the diner to pick up a to-go order. He looked to be about my Pop-Pop's age and I was guessing he was all alone for Christmas Eve. I almost started crying right there and part of me feels like I should have invited him to come eat with me and my Mom.
High - sleeping in until 11 on Christmas morning.
Low - still feeling so sick and such that after some cereal I went back to bed until about 3:30.
High - we had an Italian Christmas this year with chicken parm, lasagna, meatballs and sausage. I loved it so much more than a "traditional" Christmas dinner of turkey or ham or something like that. And I felt like it was a way of having my Gram there with us.
Low - Christmases (and all holidays really) just remind me of how much I miss my Gram
High - not opening presents until my brother and sister-in-law arrived after dinner gave us something to do in the evening.
Low - I could not wait that long and opened everything in my stocking immediately after dinner.
Low - the unusual Christmas schedule this year (coupled with my sickness and need to sleep more) meant that my Mom and I did not see a movie on Christmas Day. Now, I can't exactly verify this, but this may have been the first time in SIXTEEN YEARS that we have not gone to a movie on Christmas day. I believe it started in 1994 with "Little Women" and then sort of became our own Christmas tradition.
High - getting great presents like a new Cliff Lee shirt, two sets of lovely Lilly P pajamas, and my favorite....money! (Before you go thinking I am a total miser, the money is being added to my Macbook savings fund and I am *almost* there!
High - having a mom who doesn't get upset when my tastes don't exactly jive with hers and always keeps the receipt. Bonus - when she tells me she will go ahead and do the return for me and then just contribute that money to my Macbook savings fund.

And the biggest High, way better than getting great presents, is GIVING great presents. Finding *the* perfect presents for people is something I absolutely love. I mean, if I had Oprah's cash, you can bet your @ss that I would be giving people Deviled Megs' Favorite Things out at least once a year.

I got my brother and sister-in-law a Netflix subscription which they were SO excited about. But how fun is it to open an envelope, right? So I made this whole "Night at the Movies" themed basket and got them each some slippers, and boxes of Microwave popcorn, and every movie candy you can imagine. Also, the most ADORABLE old-timey looking popcorn bucket I found at Williams-Sonoma. Sort of like the one tha's on their website in the pic below, but looks more like a true bucket like you would get at the movie theater. It was the very last one on the shelf, otherwise I so would have gotten one for myself.


But the best gift by far were the tickets I got for the Coach to see Jeff Dunham, this comedian he is borderline obsessed with. He's the guy with all the puppets....now, I don't find him all that funny, but the Coach dies laughing when he watches this guy on TV. Like is almost in tears he is laughing so hard. So I was so excited when I found out he was going to be doing a show in Philly in a few months and got tickets for him and my mom. I printed them out and boxed them up like a present (again, who wants to open an envelope?) and his face when he opened it was priceless. Like he couldn't believe what they actually were. He was beaming he was so excited about them. I told him that I had also saved a PDF of the tickets to the desktop of his computer just in case. You see the Coach...how can I say this politely...is prone to misplace things. Usually his keys. And glasses. And wallet.

He proclaimed it wasn't necessary, he wasn't going to lose these tickets. Then the Coach walked over to the front door and posted them up on a clip on the back of the door. This show isn't until MARCH, but I guess those tickets are going to stay up on the front door all the way up until the show. For the rest of the evening, he kept throwing out one-liners from that comedian and his dang puppets. It would have been annoying if it hadn't made me feel so good about finding him such a great gift.

Kind of annoying? The Coach seemed almost as excited about that 10-pack of Hanes athletic socks I got for him too. I guess he is just easy to please.

I just wanted to post today so you all didn't think my Christmas was a total bust. Santa just brought me some unexpected things this year, but I had a very Merry Christmas overall.
Hope everyone out there had a good one too -- filled with more Highs than Lows :)