Weekend Open Thread

Ugh, I was up all night battling what I guess is the flu. It came on suddenly at 7 PM and I threw up probably more times in one night than in all my months of pregnancy combined (I’m not pregnant, fyi). We had plans to go out this evening, so Drew called our sitter last night and asked if she could come in this morning instead to help out with Joanie. Luckily, she was available, because after a night of puking and still feeling queasy and awful, I don’t know how well I’d have managed corralling a 17-month-old all day. Our sitter will tire her out for a few hours while I rest and then bring her back in time to hopefully take a long nap before we go pick up Jackson from school. With luck, I’ll be feeling a little better by then.

Anyway, speaking of feeling better, an email I received from a teacher who participated in our holiday book drive last week really cheers me up and I wanted to share:

Hi Wendy,

I wanted to let you know that almost ALL of the books for my kids have arrived. They look so pretty stacked on my dining table. The social studies teacher and I are going to have a wrapping party over the weekend. This book drive has inspired us to go big for Christmas this year! We’ve decided to have a high school-wide Christmas party the last day of school. We are going to celebrate the students’ hard work this semester and really enjoy each other in a fun and relaxing way. There is a district-wide assembly honoring students of the quarter, then high school students will watch Elf and then play a related breakout-educational game to find the key to the closet holding all the gifts.

I am SO touched by the generosity of so many strangers. Being able to show these kids the generosity and good in the world is, without a doubt, one of the largest highlights of my year. All of it just makes me so happy, inspired, and thankful! Thank you so much!

Also – the extras have arrived. It’s amazing how much fun it is to open a pack of white-board markers that I didn’t have to buy!

Thanks again and have a great day! — Amy

So, thank YOU to all of you who contributed in the book drive this year, either by purchasing something from the registries or spreading the word. It’s not just the purchases that matter, but the reminder that there is good in this world, that strangers still care about each other, and that kids deserve to know they’re remembered and thought of.

Speaking of kids, in case you missed it, here’s the 2016 DW holiday gift guide for kids. And here are the gifts guides for men and for women. As you continue your holiday shopping, thank you for any purchases you make through my Amazon affiliate link (which you can access here or through clicking the Amazon widget in the sidebar). I make a commission from said purchases, which helps support this site.

Tomorrow is our annual Condellberry Christmas Tree Trimming Event, which isn’t so much an “event” as it’s the four of us picking out a tree, carrying it home, untangling a bunch of lights, getting annoyed that most of the lights are out, running down to the hardware store for more lights, throwing some ornaments on the tree, getting the kids to bed so we can drink some Bailey’s Martinis in peace and order some Carribbean food (it’s a holiday tradition) and watch the Bill Murray Christmas Special while admiring the tree and how cute Miles looks curled up underneath it. Fa la la la la la la la la. (Incidentally, this is the year that Jackson has started expressing some confusion over being Jewish and celebrating Christmas. So far, telling him that his mom isn’t Jewish and only agreed to marry his dad if he let her get a Christmas tree every year seems to suffice. Somehow, I think if Christmas didn’t include presents, cookies, twinkly lights, and a big guy in a red suit with eight flying reindeer, he might not accept this explanation so easily).

Have a happy and merry weekend, everyone!