twinkle lights.

It felt like we put the tree up so early this year and here it is..almost Christmas.  HOW?!

I have been frantic doing online shopping and yet I feel so lost.  I've been jumping from site to site the last few hours (!?) trying to be thoughtful and introspective and consider each person I want to buy a gift for.  More time!  I need more time!  In October Roommate and I mused about getting started SO early on Christmas shopping so we could take our time and make good choices and now I'm like uh...  um.. 

I've noticed that part of the reason it has felt so hard to find gifts is the feeling of not knowing someone.  A couple of people, like my mom, I know and feel like I can choose gifts that will fit and she will love.  To my mom, a jug of Grade B Pure Maple Syrup is a special treat she loves but would never buy for herself.  It's part of her gift.  For others, particularly part of Roommate's family, I feel lost.  I've seriously tried to put myself in a state of meditation - considering who they are, what they love, what would surprise them or make them happy and..I'm still lost.  I hate buying gift cards.  It's like eh, I was going to give you cash but instead I decided where you'd spend it.  heh.  Or maybe it's an attempt at being more personal but still..  I don't know.  Gifts cards aren't all bad, certainly, I know, sometimes I l o v e receiving them.  I got a couple for my birthday and voila, I have a lovely new green winter coat.  Thank you!  (by the way, all coats at Target were/are (?) on sale)  Linked there for $65 I bought it for $32 -- err, S & M bought me that coat with $35 in Target gift cards.  wow, I sure rambled off on that bit.

Anyway.  How are you grounding yourself and staying organized?  I love giving gifts but I want them to be special. 

I've invited some family over for Saturday and am planning to make cut out sugar cookies to bake and decorate, homemade caramel corn (the recipe over at Orangette), homemade pizzas with a myriad of toppings for everyone to choose and customize and perhaps an evening trip to the Plaza and around to see the lights and show Beebs.

[buzz] Words I keep reading on the internet these days:
Waldorf
green smoothies
anti
chia

Have been watching lots of videos of home births and reading about placenta encapsulation.  (you do that thing, ladies!  though no placenta capsules for me..not even if they include fresh ginger and chiles and..)

I have started putting post-its up in our house to remind us of our goals.  There's one on the cabinet where the drinking glasses are reminding me how good drinking water makes me feel and I actually saw it and thought ahh, yes, water now, delightful!  heh.

Random:  My patient today called me "biggie."  That felt -- awesome.
How much I love when people completely removed from the real life, real time doing of things create solutions for problems that arise during that time.  I realize this is an endless problem in allll kinds of areas but I'm particularly perturbed when I feel like the enforcement of such "solutions" gets in the way of me actually doing my damn job.

I tried watching the meteor shower in the cold tonight but it just seems too cloudy. 

Tomorrow I'm calling HR at the other hospital I applied at. 

I watched Julie & Julia over the course of 2 evenings.  I enjoyed it - loved Julie's apartment and Amy Adams was cute and it made me hungry/want to cook but I kept finding myself twitchy and ..  annoyed? with the blog blog blog, comments, whatever aspect.


So there ya go.  Roommate and I have gotten into this terrible habit of staying up until nearly dawn on our days off.  It's 2:30 now and that feels reasonable still.  There have been a few nights when we go to bed around 5 or 6 and sort of blink at each other wondering when Beebs will wake up for the day and we'll be called to duty.

Anyway, I'm babbling on -- give me some of your insider tips for Christmas gift-giving and how you keep some of the magic.  Are you buying only handmade?  Do you bake/make treats for everyone?  Do you refrain from gift-exchanging?  Does it feel forced if I end a post with a bunch of advice-seeking questions?  Would you prefer I simply hopped over to ask meta for these answers?  Maybe I need some friends?
yes yes and yes.  xoxo