The Previously Preempted Christmas Post

Posted on December 28, 2012 by simpleijustdo

The Man’s proposal certainly surprised me, and preempted my Christmas post. Not that I mind… So here’s the post that was originally supposed to air.

The Man isn’t big on Christmas, which has caused some friction in the almost-three years we’ve been dating. I love Christmas! Not in a must-decorate-the-house-witihin-an-inch-of-its-life kind of way, but an I-really-dig-finding-just-the-right-thing-for-everyone-on-my-list kind of way. You probably already know this about me, but I digress.

The Man, however, has a lot of anxiety about gift-giving, as well as other issues with Christmas in general, and can sometimes get downright depressed about it. I have treated him gently, been very cognizant about his needs, and I’m pretty sure I have rubbed off on him a bit, meaning he’s not as big of a Scrooge as he used to be.

Last year, it came up in conversation that his beloved grandmother, who helped raise him, had one of those all-silver trees that she would decorate with either red or blue bulbs, depending on the year, complete with the rotating light shining on it. He expressed fond memories of this tree. “Wait, fond memories of something having to do with Christmas?” I thought to myself, “We gotta get on that!”

A few months later, we were in Marietta, Ohio for Thanksgiving, and walked into a chocolate shop where a silver tree just like his grandmother’s was in the window. He started a lengthy conversation with the shop owner, fondly reminiscing about his grandmother’s tree, yet again.

After that, I looked them up online to see how much they were, but unfortunately found them to be rather expensive, being truly antiques and all.

And then…

And then, I posted about it on facebook, and a few hours later, Fantastic Babysitter responded to my post that her parents were interested in getting rid of just such a tree that they had in their attic! Not wanting to get my hopes up too high, I asked her about it, and asked how much they wanted for it. She said they wouldn’t want any money for it.

Ask and ye shall receive!

She brought the tree over, and I got out some rags and brasso, and spent an afternoon in my living room, listening to the Peanuts and Muppets Christmas albums, and shining up every single branch on that tree.

When I gave it to the Man last Christmas, he was speechless, almost moved to tears, and said it was quite possibly the best Christmas gift he had ever gotten.

And this year, it is up in our new house, bulbs, light and all. He is very proud of it, and you know what? No Scrooge to be found this year!

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! Sending much love and good will to all of you!

Happy Day

Posted on December 26, 2012 by simpleijustdo

Christmas morning, The Man and I got up leisurely and decided to open our presents to each other before my parents came over for the meal, stockings, and all of the other gifts.

I gave him his gift, cleverly disguised (he told me later he thought I had bought him a large tool set, but they were actually three framed engineering prints in poster frames, which were also a great cover for the real gift — a gift card to the tool store).

Then it was my turn. I had told The Man that I would like a watch for Christmas, and lo and behold, there was a watch-shaped box under the tree with my name on it. I unwrapped it to find “Parker” on the top of the box. “Parker pens?” I asked, not expecting a response. Sure enough, I opened the box and found a nice pen and pencil set, not what I expected but nice enough. I pulled out the mechanical pencil to see how to activate the mechanism, which The Man promptly grabbed from me, leaving me to examine the pen. I turned it over and noticed his name engraved on it… What the —??

I had not noticed The Man getting off the couch and doing some other stuff in my peripheral vision. At the very moment I was thinking this could quite possibly be a very rough day, he suggested I look again under the tree, because he thought he saw another gift for me under there…

And there was a ring box.

After uttering his name, and looking at him to see if he was for real, I reached down, grabbed the box, opened it, and realized what he was giving me. He asked me if I would marry him, and I said, “You know I will!”

Sneaky, sneaky man. He did an amazing job remembering exactly what I liked. And now we are engaged! He says he had no idea those pens had his name engraved on them, but wrapped them knowing I would think it was a watch. He knows me so well.

I am a lucky, lucky (and happy!) woman.

Transitions

Posted on December 9, 2012 by simpleijustdo

We all know that kids with autism have a hard time with transitions, but you know what? I do too. It has taken me two weeks to get back into the swing after Thanksgiving. I wasn’t working out, we were eating out a lot, and the house… Well, it’s always my last priority, so you can imagine what it looked like. It was probably worse than you are imagining.

I was forced to get up at a decent hour this morning because we had to go pick up the cake for The Boy’s birthday party, and I usually wake up around 9 on Saturdays anyway (thank you strange neighbor-lady who has very loud TV on starting at 5am daily…), although I usually pop in the earplugs and go back to sleep. Today I figured I would do some yoga and get a load into the laundry. Doing those two things set the tone for the day.

I typed an agenda with all of the things I wanted to accomplish today, and scheduled in ample breaks (rewards), and you know what? I got most of it done, including putting up our tree (finally!). It feels so late, but of course, The Boy’s birthday is Monday, so we’re actually on time.

In any case, I’m finally feeling back on track, and not-so-overwhelmed. Amazing what a difference a day can make.

Hope you are having a great weekend!