Christmas odds and ends:

We drew names with G's family, so only have to buy gifts for one of his sisters, his 24-year-old nephew, and all of us are still buying gifts for the 13-year-old nephew (he's the baby, at this point, anyway). Since G and I have been together, we've always had to buy both Christmas and birthday presents for everyone (his 2 sisters, BIL, 2 nephews, one nephew's girlfriend, and until 6/01 G's mom). My sister and I haven't exchanged birthday gifts for years, although I do get my little niece gifts, of course. At any rate, it's a big relief to not have to get so much.

The group I sing in at church is also not doing gifts for each other. Instead, we're buying for a family from the prison angel tree. This program is designed to provide a gift for kids from their incarcerated dad or mom. I'm so happy--it's much better than getting another mug or some bath wash I don't want!

Don't know if we can put up a tree this year because of crazy kitten Minnie. She's into everything and is determined to conquer everything. G brought in his bonsai tree from the back porch about a month ago, and she kept trying to climb it. She's nearly full grown, so it was quite a goofy sight. The other day she lay down in the dirt with a lily plant in one of G's terra cotta planters. She had her head on the edge of the pot and looked very cute, but not particularly bright. She enjoys stalking crickets in her spare time. I'm sure she'll try to climb the Christmas tree and will knock off all the ornaments. There's no door to our living room or I'd try to close it off. We don't want to leave her shut in the basement for a month, so I'm not sure what to do yet.

I'm not sure what we'll be doing for Christmas yet, either. For the past 9 years (G and I started dating in '94), we've had a big Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' house and then used to go to his mom's for dinner and gifts around noon Christmas Day. Since his mom died, we go to his sister's house, which is where all the other family events like birthdays are held. My sister has never been happy about the big dinner on Christmas Eve and preferred it Christmas Day, but hey, I got married first, nyah nyah nyah. Besides, her husband's parents don't come until after Christmas if at all, so they have all Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and even part of the 26th at my parents. There's never been any big argument, I've just gotten comments from my dad and my grandmother that L (my sister) didn't like doing it this way. I never replied. Anyway, I think her family is going to stay at their own home (80 miles north of Mom and Dad) on Christmas so Santa come come there. That's certainly fine with me, my niece (almost 4) and nephew (5 months) should get their own traditions. I assumed Mom and Dad would go spend the night up there and G and I would be on our own, but Mom thinks L and family are going to come down instead after they do Santa. But that would mean big family dinner on Christmas day, and then going to G's family for another dinner. Maybe I'll just cook something and bring it to Mom's house Christmas Eve, and they can have the big dinner without us the next day. Why does this all have to be so complicated?