Lugging on those boots .....

...... and pulling up the straps.

Headed out amongst the crazy people shoppers today.  I had to return two sweaters and, lo and behold ..... I found the receipt.  I cannot tell you how much of a Festivas Miracle that was!  I do not keep books in any way, shape or form that my husband did.  And let me tell you ..... if he were in a grave he would indeed be spinning in it.  Oh, he'd probably be spinning all of the time, but he'd REALLY be spinning because of my lack of accounting skills.  

The man kept every receipt he could get his hands on.  And when the Visa bill came in, if there was not a receipt, I had to go over it with a fine tooth comb and my calendar and try to remember what the charges were for.  Sigh.

Anyhooooo, back to my day.  I made my returns and bought the various crap ummmmm, little tiny Christmas gifts for certain peoples that go in certain types of footwear (that's not too cryptic, is it?!).

And now I am done going out with the crazy people shoppers. 

And to top it all off, V called my this morning and asked me if someone would be able to pick her up at the airport Friday morning!!  Surprise!!  So she'll be here for the Dedication.

I'm glad.

I spent the evening with some old and new friends tonight.  It may be a new Bunco group for me to start with the New Year.  It was a fun evening but it left me with one nagging question:

Why do we call it a "Chinese gift exchange"?!  I mean, really ...... is that how the Chinese exchange gifts?  Because let me tell you, if it were, I'd be trying to climb the Wall if I lived there.

Who the heck thought up the idea of "stealing" gifts?!  And what if you brought something that was pretty nice, but then ended up going home with something ..... well, less than (because that has TOTALLY happened to me!!)?  Or, even worse, what if you THOUGHT you brought something really nice, but then no one wanted to steal it?!  Oh yeah, fun-city.

So as you have probably surmised, we had a "Chinese gift exchange" tonight.  And the stealing was manic ..... more so than any other party I've been to.  It was so manic that we couldn't keep up with who's turn it was.  And it took quite a while.

And unfortunately, I do not have patience with things that take quite a while anymore.  So when there was much deep and concentrated discussion about what the next person should steal I had to suppress myself from saying, "Oh for God's sake, just open something!"

But I refrained.

However, I don't think I managed to refrain from showing my exasperation when the next thing to be stolen was the gift I had control of.  I didn't mind it being taken, there wasn't one certain gift I had my heart set on, I just wanted it to end.  

So when the woman took my gift and then said, "Sorry", I said, "Oh, I don't care" and just took the last gift to be opened quite quickly.

I'm afraid I may not have made a good impression.

We'll see if I get an e-mail about next month's Bunco night.

:)