The Christmas Freak Out

That is what I’m calling it. I’ve officially coined it. When I get around to it, I’ll probably trademark it. Do you guys get this way, a week before Christmas? You begin to freak out? I begin to freak out and 90% of it is based around gift giving. The other 10% is about food and drink. I hope that jotting down the fears, will help me cope a little better, but I even have nightmares during this week and again, it’s all around gift giving.

Things I freak out over

• Did I forget anyone I’ll be seeing on Christmas?
• Did I buy adequate gifts for my co-workers?
• Will my children have equal amounts of presents to open?
• Did I screw up the name tags and give the wrong gifts to my boys?
• Will my youngest find his gifts awesome from Santa or question that he was bad over the past year?
• Will my husband like his gifts?
• Who do I have left to buy for and do I have enough money to cover it?

Plan B

Then in both my annual nightmare and awake, I begin to think of contingency plans. I think I’m a pretty resourceful person. Not in the sense of being on a deserted island and thriving as I would die in the first 45 minutes. If Bear Grylls and I were alone on Mount Everest, and he asked me to survive till lunchtime, with just a match, I’d ask him if he brought my Bath and Body Works candles.

No, my contingency plans involve the question: what is open on Christmas and what good gifts do they have? Since you really can’t buy anything at a hospital, firehouse or police station, my only outlet is the gas station 1 mile away, gift giving and gift certificates I can print out from online stores. I take mental inventory of possible, last-minute gifts from Speedway gas station: 

Beef jerky

Gatorade

Lottery tickets

Sometimes, they do have decent gift cards

Twice I’ve Screwed Up Gift Giving

Time 1: As always, my youngest sister S spends Christmas morning with us. I didn’t feel like I had enough gifts for her so at 1 a.m. on Christmas, I’m printing off a Forever 21 gift certificate and wrapping it in the dark of my bedroom. Had I not done this, the world would have still carried on but I am not a quitter.

Time 2: OMG, this made me feel like a turd on ass of a turd. And I probably shouldn’t have felt that way, just my kids don’t know how good they have it. My youngest C, received a drone for Christmas. He was 7 at the time. P, my oldest, was 10. Upon seeing the drone his brother received and despite receiving Beats by Dre headphones, he began to cry. He had the saddest face I’ve ever seen. Essentially he was wearing the look this whole post is based on me trying to avoid. I pleaded with him to be happy and tomorrow, first thing, we would go out and get him a drone. Having looked back on it, I don’t think I should have gotten him the drone just because he felt his other gifts weren’t enough.

Ironically (and I know, big shock), both drones are stored away, having not been used in about a year. Another fun fact should your kids want a drone, they aren’t great. Unless you spend thousands (I spent around $70 for each), you charge it for 1 hour for 5-6 minutes of flight time. No joke. Also, they are extremely difficult to learn how to fly.

So yeah, let the holiday freak out begin!