All I want for Christmas is a vacuum!

You ever notice how after you get married your present expectations drop and then when you have kids they are at an all time low. I went from wanting rings and assorted geegaws to telling Snark to wait till after Christmas because that is when Yankee Candle has their "Buy one get one free" sale. I can get more then.

Yet I am hunting the aisles for "Fairytopia Barbie" and "Doodle Bears." But I think the young enjoy the material things the most. The older I get the more I appreciate the season itself. I like Snark making the cookie list, and I love it when he starts the baking. The girls are excited when I put up the tree and I even let them put the ornaments on. (Of course, they are all put on one branch and I sneak by later in the night to rearrange them). I get excited seeing lights the neighbors put up. I would rather not risk my neck to do that, but I surely appreciate when others do it.

Snark has asked for baseball books this year. He does research off them. He says he enjoys them, but isn't that like a doctor asking for medical reference books. Or maybe it is like when my mom asked for a new vacuum cleaner.

I always promised myself that I would not ask for a mixer or a washing machine, and I never did until one Christmas there was an expensive stove I wanted. It was beautiful and I hemmed and hawwed until I finally said "Look, get this thing as a Christmas gift." That sealed the deal. But it also led to what I always dreaded. The "I'll get her new pots and pans" for Christmas or "don't you want this knife" for birthdays. This actually happens to Snark more than myself. For our anniversary he received, from your's truly, an ice-cream maker. For his birthday he got a subscription to his favorite magazine and chocolate.

I fret over this, but as he says "It makes me happy, and it's the fact you thought to do it." And so I am going to try and not worry about what it is, but rather the happiness it brings. Just like Yankee Candle providing me the opportunity to stock up for the year on candles. And this year granite countertops for the kitchen would really excite me.