So, what’s your favourite part of the holidays? Is it the wonderful baked goods that you feel it’s okay to indulge in because it would be unfestive to say no? Is it the christmas carols 24 hours a day on the radio (yes, I listen to that station in December), or is it all that beautiful sparkling snow? Blech, hate the stuff.
My favourite part of the holidays? Stocking stuffers! Maybe it’s because it fills my retail therapy needs with very little expense, maybe it’s the joy of finding the perfect gift over and over again, I’m not sure, but I do love finding interesting things to jam pack (as full as I can, usually overflowing) into stockings.
Here’s what I have going on this year:
There’s the regulars, you know, socks, underwear, toothbrushes, body wash etc. Oh, and don’t forget, our family tradition (this was the only thing on my daughter’s Christmas list last year), the Terry’s Chocolate Orange. A stocking without an orange is like a birthday without a cake.
For the girls, I like to get soaps and lip gloss. This year, I found these cute soaps shaped like cupcakes and pretty little balls full of gloss at the Superstore.
I always like to find at least one thing they probably haven’t seen before, and this year I found it at the checkout in Winners. These Cheater Chopsticks are going to be a hit! I can’t wait to see them use them. There are always a tonne of great stocking stuffers in the checkout line at Winners, actually.
At H&M, I found some cheap earrings and these little cat masks that the girls will love. Pack of 2 for $6.95. It’s also where I got their underwear.
At Walmart, I found Zoobles for the girls, a tech deck for Ethan, punching balloons that are shaped like animals, and a super cool watch (also for Ethan).
Got a baby you need to stuff a stocking for? I got these Boogie wipes, her first toothbrush and paste, and a cool rattle at The Superstore.
It’s not just kids stocking stuffers that I love either, I love stuffing Tom’s stocking too. I found these ravioli shaped dish sponges in our local health food store; fun and functional!
Another Winners find: This cool wine stacker thingy. I’m not sure our wine ever lasts long enough to get stacked, but I thought it was pretty cool.
So, tell me, what’s your favourite part of the holidays? Is there something that absolutely MUST be in your stocking to make Christmas complete?
If someone were to tell me they were going to marry someone they had known for only 7 months, I would question how well they knew one another.
There is someone in my life that I have only known for seven months, and I can tell you that I know every single thing there is to know about her.
I know what time she will want to eat, I know how she will cry if I leave the room when she’s hungry, and how she stops if I take her with me. I know how to place the spoon in her mouth just so in order to keep her food in her mouth, how she prefers her rice cereal mixed with her food and not on it’s own. I know that she will not finish her bottle without sitting forward to see what the dog, her siblings or her father are doing. I know that once she is finished eating, she will be ready to sleep.
I know the way her little hands rub up and over her nose when she is tired, I know the gentle touch of her fingers searching for something to grip while she soothes herself, the subtle sucking of her soother while she sleeps, how she will pop it our of her mouth when it has served it’s purpose. I know how her breathing changes as she falls deeper into sleep, the rise and fall of her tiny chest. I know what it’s like to watch her sleep when her breathing is hampered by illness and congestion, to worry that if I sleep she might not wake. I know the sounds she will make when she does wake, and I know the smile she will give when I come to greet her.
I guess you can get to know someone in just 7 months.
So, I was nominated as the parent of choice to have “the talk” with my 10-year old step daughter.
We told her that, one night, when it was just her and I at home (that happens on Tuesdays), I would be talking to her about some changes that her body would soon be going through. She was eager to learn.
We had given her a body book a couple years ago to look through and prepare her, but we had never really talked about it. I wasn’t even sure how far she had gotten in the book.
So, that Tuesday came. As soon as everyone else was out of the house, Eleanor reminded me that “we needed to talk”.
I had spent most of the day, wondering where to start. I even put out to the Twitterverse. I got some great feedback, but I still wasn’t sure how to attack the subject and where and how far the topic should go. So when Eleanor suggested that she go and get her book, I thought that was a great idea.
I decided that I would start really basic and let it go as far as Eleanor led me.
We started with the fact that she would be starting to shower every day soon, and she would probably want to spend more time getting ready than playing in the morning. I explained that she would start to get body odour (she already has her own deodorant) and that she would need to use her deodorant every day too.
From basic grooming, we moved hair growth, body curves and vaginal discharge. We talked about shaving, changing her underwear everyday, and the possibilities of braiding her arm pit hair... yes, I actually said that, I thought we could use some comic relief before moving on to... duh duh duh... the period talk!
I thought she would have some idea, but she didn’t.
First we talked about how a baby is made from an egg that comes from the mommy. I told her that every month, a girl has one of those eggs that comes out, and if it doesn’t make a baby, it turns to her period. I explained that there would be some blood, every month, for a few days.
I took her up to my bathroom and I showed her a panty liner, a pad, and a tampon. I even took the tampon out of the package and showed her how it worked.
I told her she could ask me anything she wanted to, and she did. It never went in the direction of sex. I wondered if she was just to embarrassed to go there, so I put it out there by saying “do you have any questions about boys?” Her answer? “Yeah, how do I get So-and-so to like me?” The sex talk can wait till another day.
That was pretty much it. You know what she was most concerned with? When we would be going shopping to get her the new products she would need (ie: panty liners, shaving cream, etc).
I guess girls will be girls.
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