Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress

I suppose, as we are almost finished with January, that I should blog about new year's resolutions or some such thing (and I will---in February or March, as soon as I get the Christmas wreath off my front door), but as I tend to work on the day or three late and about fifty dollars short schedule, today I thought I'd write about cool Christmas gifts.

We all know that giving and receiving presents is not what the celebration of Christ's birth is about. I also think most of us would admit to spending a fair amount of time, money and effort on this very thing. For me, I think the balance is in the process. If I'm able to enjoy the giving (ie. have time to plan, prepare, pick out etc. what I know the person will really love) then it is a joyous part of our holiday. The last minute dash through the mall has the opposite effect.Of course it is also very fun to find some neat surprises under the tree Christmas morning, as I did this year.

My husband and I had previously agreed---as part of our quest and commitment to be out of debt by May---that we would only exchange stocking stuffers this year. For those of you who might be considering this plan, it's a bad idea. We both cheated. I cheated in the form of a display case for his marathon finisher's medals. I'd wanted to do this for a long time, and there was no way something like that was going to hang from the fireplace. Dixon cheated with money spent, stuffing an ipod in the toe of my stocking. This was way over the budget we'd agreed on, but the gleeful look in his eyes as he gave it to me, told me he didn't particularly care what it had cost. It took me about an hour to decide I didn't either. I love this thing and wear it all the time---when I'm first up in the morning, puttering around half asleep getting breakfast for everyone, when I'm loading the washing machine, when I'm writing. It's so much fun, and I love him for getting it for me. It's nice to be spoiled once in a while.

My sister also spoiled me this year, with a beautiful necklace and set of earrings. Normally I'm not much of a jewelry person. I like it. I've just never taken the time to shop for things that go together and with the clothing I own. Then again, Sam's Club and the carpool lane don't usually call for a really put-together ensemble. But my younger, hip, fashionable, sister has an eye for this sort of thing and really blew me away with her beautiful present. Once more, it was fun to be spoiled.

The other thing I really loved this year were homemade gifts. My other sister, Deanna, went online to Shutterfly and made books with our family reunion photos. This is the coolest thing, and if you come to my house, I will insist you sit down and look through it. I have a feeling my mounds of scrapbooking supplies will soon be gathering dust---even more than they already are---as I venture into the world of hi-tech, professional looking memory books.

My mom also put her talents to use this Christmas, sewing retro aprons for each of her daughters. When she started, she had no idea that I'd been searching for patterns and aprons for months---since seeing a segment on Good Things Utah. I absolutely love aprons and, kind of like my ipod, wear one most of the day. As a big fan of the Fly Lady, I run around the house each morning doing the ten minute clean in each room, and an apron with pockets comes in handy. I also love to cook and bake, and often find flour on my shirt whenever I skip the apron. So just call me June Cleaver, but I'm hardly ever without one, and I love the retro, black and white, polka dot apron my mom made.

I love it because it's functional and darling, but I also love it because it's funny. Emblazoned across the front of the apron is the acronym SLUTS---short for Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress (though Mom changed mine to read SaltLake Ladies Under Tremendous Stress) written along the scallops at the bottom. My sisters thought this amusing, but I found it hilarious---because it's true! Who isn't under tremendous stress when it's time to fix dinner? As I mentioned earlier, I love to cook, but whoever planned dinner to be in the early evenings---when your kids have their homework spread out all over the table, when your son needs a ride to work, when your daughter needs to be picked up from dance class, when your other daughter needs a ride to or from a study group or YW activity, when your youngest and her friends are in and out the back door every five minutes needing help with their snowgear, tracking slush across the kitchen floor, demanding hot chocolate---was crazy. The hours between 3 and 7 are the most stressful of my day---every day. So I laughed hard when I saw this apron, and I wear it proudly, needing all the help I can get to keep my sense of humor intact while I try to fix the family meal.

I also think it would be very funny to wear my SLUTS apron while serving in the church kitchen at our next ward activity, but my husband isn't so sure. I'm pretty certain it would be a hit though---and I'd have requests for the pattern. After all, you can't tell me that those ladies aren't stressed out---serving dinner to 250, trying to keep the kids out of the desserts, trying to find just one serving spoon in the entire kitchen. A few aprons like mine might do a lot to lighten the atmosphere. Maybe we'd even get more people to agree to be on the activities committee.

All in all, it was a fun Christmas at our home. Over the break I assembled a Lego version of Hogwarts castle with my seven-year-old (which is now, lamentably, spread throughout every room in the house), played numerous games of Apples to Apples and Druthers, sang High School Musical Karoake with our daughters (okay, my husband sang too, but he wouldn't want me to admit that on a blog), and listened to classic "vinyl" with our son as he tried out his new record player. The gifts did what they were supposed to---made us all feel a little more loved and spoiled, and brought us together for some play time. And I'm thinking that can't be all bad.

What are your thoughts? Do you love the gift giving tradition or hate it? What fun and exciting things were under your tree this year? I'd love to hear about them and your holiday. After all, it's never too early to start thinking about next December :)