The Un-Gift Guide

The Tyrant alarm clock for your teenage son who won’t wake up in the morning.

A cup that tracks liquid consumption for your coworker who drinks soda out of two liter bottles at work. In your line of sight/hearing.

A snarky print for your downstairs neighbors who said they’d finish their loud renovation project in a week. Three months ago.

An answer for your child who keeps asking if it’s Christmas yet.

An Arch Card for the smarmy yoga instructor who lives on green juice.

A decoder ring for yourself. To deal with that family member who you just can’t quite read right and who insists s/he meant nothing, but it’s definitely not nothing.

A candle for your friend who drank a little too much at the Christmas party.

A little something for yourself because sometimes the holidays aren’t just eggnog and caroling.

Going home

Since July I’ve been homesick in a way unexperienced before. Torn between a vibrant, full home in Arizona and a new place that only feels like home in the sense that Michael and I are together, I’ve muddled through. Made new friends. Hosted Thanksgiving for a group of fellow orphan grad students. Experienced varying degrees of homemaking success.

But in a few days we get to go home for an extended holiday vacation and I can’t wait.

It’s pretty perfect timing. I’m feeling better, we’ll be in town for a birthday, Christmas, New Years, a friend’s wedding reception, and plenty of extra days to play games with my brothers, bake cookies in my mom’s kitchen, and walk my family’s dog.

What I’ve missed most is the over abundant feeling of love and belonging, something very difficult to create when it’s just me and Michael, both recovering from the move and attempting to settle into a new place, school, etc. We have done surprisingly well. No huge fights or hurts. We’re patient with each other and take breaks to play card games, snuggle on the couch and play with our cat.

But it is so different. And just thinking about the way we are loved and lifted up back home brings me to tears. I really can’t think about having to leave at the end of our vacation.

So it is with a full, eager heart that I prepare for our trip. We’ve made some plans after a few freak-outs on my part over the newness of vacationing as a married couple who has two families to spend time with. We have chains for our tires and sand in the trunk for our possibly snowy drive to the airport. I’ve dealt with the monstrosity that is managing USPS/UPS/FedEx deliveries when gone for an extended time. We’ve bought a new toy for our cat and arranged for a neighbor to take care of her.

We’re ready.