This month has been affectionately dubbed "No Spend Decem" by Walker and I in anticipation of our upcoming trip.
However, Christmas in my family has never exactly meant anyone hits paydirt with the gift-getting.
I think my parents have always held the philosophy that they are forced to spend money on big things for the three of us all year, why glamorize it for one winter morning.
Instead, it's more about the quirky things my mom stuffs our stockings with and the homemade popsicle stick things we give them in return.
I'm not complaining at all - trust me, I have never once in my life gone wanting, I don't have to get caught up in holiday consumer hysteria and that warm, fuzzy Christmas feeling is always present. Plus, I have good stories: "Kate, it's a mug that says Whatever! on it - you're always saying that!" (Not to mention the fact that my sister recently got a box of instant mashed potatoes for her birthday).
It's just that it's a foreign concept to me that you would ever get something you really, really wanted on Christmas. Or, for that matter, give someone something they really, really wanted.
...but this philosophy has never stopped me and my sisters from magneting our hopelessly extravagant personal Christmas Wish Lists to the family fridge with baited breath and fingers crossed.
In some warped fashion I feel I really do need Santa to bring me a new bike and laptop and television (yeah, our house got broken into Friday night...). Oh, and Ray Bans and an iPhone and an iTunes giftcard so I can guiltlessly buy KJ103 radio hits to run to (currently loving Kylie Minogue's Get Out Of My Way), sushi for dinner every night and Nora Ephron's new book I Remember Nothing. And me being me, I dream about clothes and shoes - though don't even attempt to pick something out for me without my full, detailed consent.
Or the early gift of an all access pass into the world of Art Basel Miami.
But honestly, I'm so content. Cider beer, Sooner victories, Twilight nights, Christmas parade, wedding dancing, old people, phone conversations, broken Spanish happy.
Repeat the sounding joy, I feel much more Christmas-y than usual.
