Happy November-mas! A few weeks ago when it was getting cold and sad outside, Jeff and I hatched a plan to survive wintertime during the pandemic: we decided to have Christmas every month! We figured it was bound to bring extra cheer during this dark pandemic winter. The 25th of November, December, January, and February will be Christmas in the White house. Generally I struggle to think of gifts for people, so I don't know why this spreading-of-gifting over four months seemed like a good idea, but it totally tickled our fancy, so we went for it. We had November-mas this week on the 25th, which was the day before Thanksgiving. This month, Jeff and I gave "home improvement" gifts, most of which came in excitingly large boxes.
On the morning of November-mas, which was also the first day of Thanksgiving break, Jeff and I covered the gifts in blankets in the family room. We had family scripture before opening the presents. Jeff was mischievously pleased with how the gift-suspense built as we sat staring at the blanket-draped boxes the whole time we listened to the scripture verses. The kids were raring to go after our chapter of the Book of Mormon was done!
When we told the kids our November-mas plans, Jay and Rose decided to make coupons for each other to contribute to the gift-cache. Rose made little folded pouches for her coupons, with the recipient's initial on the front of the pouch. Since I am her Mom, my initial was "M" so my pouch of coupons looked like a small fry from McDonald's. It was quite cute. The best part was how carefully Rose considered each person she made coupons for. She made her coupons soon after I finished gushing about my awesome day home alone while all three kids were at school, and most of my coupons involved "one free hour without any questions" and "I will leave you alone for X amount of time." I felt kind of bad about that, and made sure to tell Rose that just because I value my alone time, it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy having her around. She also gave me a coupon for 20 massages. Rose gives good (if short) back and foot rubs.
Jay gave a sheet of paper to each of his sisters with a short list of things he would do for them. The most memorable was 15 minutes to play with his best plastic sword for Amber. Jay made sure to add a footnoted caveat at the bottom of the page: if Amber hit anyone with the sword, Jay could take it away. Once we had all admired our coupons, we moved on to the big blanketed boxes.
Youngest first--the girls opened their gifts at the same time, since they shared a box. We gave them air loungers, or air chairs, as I like to call them. They came in surprisingly small pouches. Jeff unfurled the tube of parachute-ish fabric, scooped air into it, rolled the end, and sealed it off with a buckle, creating a deceptively comfortable puffy wedgie-chair, perfect for lounging. The idea was for the girls to have a soft seat to sit on underneath their loft beds in their tiny, crowded, shared bedroom. Mission accomplished.
Next up was Jay. His box was large, flat, and rectangular. The kids kept saying they thought it was a TV. As if we would give our 11 year old his own TV! And yet, I could see the expectation and anticipation mounting. Before Jay pulled off the blanket, I warned him "prepare to be underwhelmed!" It was a bed frame. Jay has slept on a mattress/box spring stack on the floor without a frame for the past five years, and it was time. His new bedframe even has a headboard, and his room looks so much better now. It's still a bit cluttered and the bed is never made, but the bed frame does add some...if not sophistication, then a touch of polish, to his room. Basically, his bedroom looks less junky dorm room and more finished and furnished than ever before.
Our adult gift was new speakers for our TV. In a fit of pure extravagance, (and thanks to a smokin' sale), Jeff actually got two sound bars--one for the family room, one for our bedroom. They add gorgeous depth of decibels to our music-listening and Netflix-watching. (And also the same booming quality to annoying Nintendo sounds, unfortunately.)
After the gifts were opened, we had to basically clean and rearrange most of our house to incorporate our home-improvement-gifts. It was a long tiring process, but it was also surprisingly invigorating. Our small space has been essentially the same for the past three and a half years, and a few changes felt fresh and fun. Happy November-mas!
One more time: Happy November-mas!
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