Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My Soldier Box and More Christmas Gifts

That's most of the stuff I packed into the 12" x 12" x 5" box that you can send to soldiers. I also ended up throwing in some more stuff and I sent him a letter with a picture of Lo and me as Dorothy and Glinda. I had so much fun packing the box that I didn't think to take pictures, but I took a piece of heavy Christmas paper and cut it to fit the bottom, run up one side and fold over the top so that when he opens it he sees Christmas paper. And since putting the Christmas paper in that way meant it was the inside of the paper on the bottom, I cut an extra square to fit the bottom. I really hope he likes the things I sent. (And I was really proud of myself for getting it out on December 3rd - a whole day before the deadline.)
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Friday night we went to one of our old favorites for dinner. We had not been in a while and it's a great place to go for Christmas because they have a piano player. There's nothing like live Christmas piano music. Also we were finally having our wedding anniversary celebration since we stayed home because of the Duke game that night. We had the waiter take our picture because every anniversary since we were married I have a picture taken to add to our wedding photo album. Even after just 9 years it's fun to flip through and see our changes. I can't even imagine what flipping through 20 years might look like.
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On our way home we stopped at a bar that used to be a different bar. We knew the old one had closed and were happy to see it had reopened. There was a young soldier there and I went over to thank him for his service and told him about my soldier box to see if he thought it was good stuff. He was very nice and it was funny that 15 or 20 minutes later I noticed another middle-aged lady talking to him and I wondered aloud to My Sweetie if all the young soldiers in bars were always being "bothered" by middle-aged ladies. I bet it's a 21st century phenomenom. I could explain it using our age and Vietnam and stuff but don't really feel like being philosophical or too thinky.
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Later that night after My Sweetie went to bed I printed out a big batch of pictures of that picture from a few posts down of My Sweetie, my daughter and myself (I cut off her fiance) to put in Christmas cards. I then wrote out nearly all of my Christmas cards. This was after the wine at the restaurant, the bar beers and then coming home and drinking more beer. I hope they are not too goofy. I really should stop doing that. You've heard of "drunk-dialing?" well, every year I do "drunk Christmas carding." Tonight I finished up my last 6 cards and I imagine, if nothing else, my writing will be much better.
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With the exception of My Sweetie's stuff, I also finished up our Christmas shopping today. We made it very easy this year and mostly got gift cards for people and you may think that's impersonal, but I like to think the personal part is picking which type of gift card to get. There's a big difference between Lowe's, Barnes & Noble and TGIFridays. I did pick out an actual real gift for my friend Carole and for My Sweetie's grandmother. And I'll get real things for My Sweetie. Oh and my brother-in-law the fireman gets a special firefighter T-shirt from some exotic place each year. Those are fun to pick out.
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So anyway, here it is: a whole 10 days before Christmas and I am stress-free and easy peazy. And on top of that, it was sunny today. It's all good.

12 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Great Box for that soldier. I would think he would just love it---it is something from "HOME" and sent by someone who is saying "Thank You"....!

I think all through the many wars I have lived through, women were always thanking soldiers...I have vivid memories of seeing that even during WW2 when I was fairly young. The Korean War, too. Viet Name, well...maybe not so much, because of the negative feelings about the war. And that was sad because the soldiers weren't responsible for that---they were just doing their job....

I haven't done one thing about Christmas--no cards, no calebdars, no presents...nada! And I'm afraid that is going to be it this year.
You must feel really great that you have everything all under control for Christmas...Bravo, to you!

geewits said...

Naomi,
~~Yes it is nice to have it all "under wraps." I have vivid memories of running though cold pouring rain to Christmas shop and trying to blow dry my feet with the mall hand dryer. This is much better!

VioletSky said...

as I sit here, still writing out my 275 cards to my newspaper customers, I am pleased for you.

Anonymous said...

Violetsky - Have you learned nothing from this post? Go have a few drinks before tackling all those cards. In fact, Christmas overall is a lot more fun if we keep those blood alcohol levels just a bit elevated.

Jazz said...

At least your christmas cards will stand out from the others. Goofy is good.

And gift cards? Some people might say they're impersonal, but I love getting them. Because people might put a whole lot of thought into a present and still be so way of the mark you have to wonder what they were thinking. Get me a gift card at a place I like and I'll love you forever.

Jazz said...

AND.... where does this thing come from that gift giving must be all complicated and nerve wracking.

Anonymous said...

I think the 'soldier box' is a wonderful thing you're doing. What a great idea.

Carole said...

Great soldier box! I've said it before and I'll say it again...very cool!

We got two warm sunny days in a row!...which = yard work for me. Ha! Hope we have some of those beautiful days when the kids get here.

geewits said...

Violet Sky,
~~Good luck with that. We got one from our newspaper lady a week or so ago. I guess she did hers in November.

Xup,
~~Maybe the original line was "the SPIRITS of Christmas" ;0

Jazz,
~~I like your attitude. I feel the same way.

Ian,
~~And it was fun!

Carole,
~~And although it is cold again, at least it's sunny. I'm more about the sun than the temps anyway.

Lolo said...

So are you gonna send me the pic of you and sweetie? I'm glad you got everything done! I am supposed to do my cards tonight... yeah, good luck with that!!!
That's cool you put a pic of us in the soldier box!

geewits said...

Lo,
~~I sent you a new pic, but a different one. Yeah, I thought he'd get a kick out of our costumes.

Lori Stewart Weidert said...

Trying to catch up on my blogs reading, I've been looking forward to this one. So happy you had so much fun filling your soldier box...it's kind of addictive, isn't it? I got to shop for 6 boxes last night, using money donated to me for the cause. WOW, was that ever fun. I hope your soldier writes you back!

And glad you stopped to talk to that other soldier also. When people approach Brian like that, he loves it, and it's always memorable.

Bless you!