So, it’s Christmas.  I just used part of my Christmas gift card my Mom and Dad got me to buy my first Florida Gators shirt online – on Amazon.  I don’t know if it will self-ignite when it gets delivered to my Arkansas Razorback-loving household’s doorstep, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

Now, mind you, I am a new Gators fan.  Why?  Because I’d really like to move there, for one thing.  Another thing, is that Tebow is gone to the NFL, and Urban is up at Ohio State, so I no longer have a reason to hate the Gators.  I really didn’t like either Tebow or Urban, so my dislike of the Gators didn’t really stem from the school itself, but from the two of them.  Now that they are both gone, I’m good to be a Gators fan.

I can just picture myself wearing it on the beach in Bonita Springs.  I simply cannot wait to get back to that beach.  I would fly out tomorrow if I could, if I didn’t have a job that I have to go back to on Tuesday, or if we didn’t still have children at home.  But, a mere 6 months from now, we’ll only have one left, and then it’s no-holds-barred on what we can do and when and where we can do it!

This Christmas has been good.  We narrowed down on gifts for the children this year as they are all now teenagers and in their 20s.  There is simply no reason for me to spend $500 per child, or even $250 per child, like we did in years’ past.  It’s not the reason that we are getting together.  It’s not like they don’t get things during the year, they do.  That’s kind of the point.  If they didn’t get things during the year, I could see spending more, but with three college/law school tuitions coming up this year, we decided to narrow that down.

I have literally been sneezing all day long today.  I am allergic to something. I’m beginning to believe it’s our gas-log fireplace, because every time it’s on, I start sneezing.  That doesn’t really make any sense, I’m sure, but to me, Ms. Allergic to Weird Things, it does.  I’m allergic to strange things, I think.  Not strange like some people I’ve heard of, but strange in general.  I won’t go into it here, just in case you are wanting to off me, since two of the things would do the trick.

So, the stockings were hung last night and filled this morning.  I think that the older two were very prepared for what they got – gift cards and some minor fun items.  The oldest girl was okay with her stuff, too, since she now knows the value of a dollar after having a job for almost a year.  The youngest, when she saw the lack of a horde of gifts under the tree, was told that tuition runs about $11K a year in our household, seemed to understand a bit too.  It is tough when you’re the only parent paying for tuition, meaning that his ex-wife and my ex-husband pay nothing for anything anymore.  Not surprising, definitely, but it is difficult to swallow at times.

Christmas is here.  Tonight, we’ll sit around and watch TV or a football game – perhaps even go to the movies.  Tomorrow, we’ll wake up, ready for the new year to be here so that we can move ahead with plans for the next.  I do plan to go shopping a bit tomorrow, just to get out into the crowds.  It’s fun when you don’t have a particular item you just have to buy.  I used to get that “wish I worked retail” at the holidays stirring, but I didn’t have it this year.  That’s the first year in a long, long time that I don’t remember feeling that way.  That’s weird, but taken into the context of the rest of this year, it’s also not totally surprising.