the spirit of giving

I practically fell through the front door last night with all these little treasures in tow.

No sight of Parker's car on the curb meant the coast was clear.

I could tote it all inside and hide it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

They say ignorance is bliss!

I believe it...

Well, about halfway through my stash-and-stow I had a bout of nostalgia.

How many times had I done this before?

Strategizing with my sister about how to best avoid suspicion while sneaking bags up the stairs after back-to-school shopping.

Reminders from my mom to leave our Christmas haul in the car,

or garage,

or laundry room,

before walking in to greet daddy dearest.

Checking the mail at the end of each month to see if we'd somehow beat dad to the At&t, Visa, or Macy's bills

(he checks the mail religiously. it's one of those dad habits i so love and miss seeing).

Stacking, re-stacking, and rearranging Santa gifts

over and over again,

using our inherited UPS packing skills to create an optical illusion.

You'd never know how many gifts lay under that little evergreen.

We were masters at all of this.

Mom made sure of it.

Now, now.

My parents were wonderful partners.

They had a full disclosure policy and dad balanced the checkbook just as often as he checked the mail,

so he knew what was up.

We weren't ever really pulling the wool over his eyes.

We just liked to think we were.

It made for a happier daddy,

especially on those nights when he'd come home from an especially long day at work.

With this in mind, I decided to document my first big shopping spree.

I'd been out playing wife all night.

I'd scratched the Christmas shopping off my to-do list.

Found some killer deals in the process.

And now had no excuse not to study.

(until now...)

I felt so productive!

Felt just like my mama.

Which means I'm that much closer to becoming super-woman.

I arranged all the bags for their big debut and snapped just one shot when I heard the gate.

Oh no.

Parker'd finally made his way home.

He'd had a long day.

And I wanted a happy husband.

So I scrambled to find a place for each piece in my closet

finally realizing that Parker just might have a point about my having too many clothes.

Just as I go to squeeze the door shut I feel a hand on my waist.

And totally freak out.

How the heck does he do that?

He's always unintentionally (and sometimes intentionally) sneaking up on me.

And I'm always jumping out of my skin and listening to him laugh as I tell him to quit it with the whole James Bond act.

Needless to say, he'd seen it all.

His next question...

"How much?"

my reply

"Not much..."

then Parker

"I want a number."

Before I gave a "guesstimate" I reminded him that if I'd done anything wrong it'd been being too in tune with the spirit of giving.

He told me to quit stalling.

So I told him.

And he ended up being quite happy with my answer.

Or maybe he just appreciated the fact that he was off the hook for this holiday season's shopping.

Either way, win/win for us tonight.

And a fun little flashback for me.

I'm really missing home right now...

just 24 days more.

Christmas can't come soon enough!