I just don’t feel it. There is no Christmas spirit this year. There’s just a tree crowding my already tiny living room with all the ornaments grouped together because Addie is OCD and can’t handle the two Cinderella shoes not being a pair. I don’t care, the tree is for them anyway.
We made sugar cookies the other night. Prepackaged, because there is just not enough Martha Stewart or Alton Brown in me to whip up a batch from scratch. I suspect I should have made all of us take a nap first, because there was no heartwarming goodness as Emma, Addie and I iced the cookies. Just bickering and whining. And me wishing I could put my head in the oven. Do your kids drive you up the wall, too? Or is it just my heathen children.
I lay the blame for my lack of spirit on my husband. At least, partly. He is turning out to be a gigantic Scrooge. It might be because he had to work Black Friday and the next day and the next day and the next day until he could care less about the holidays. I don’t really blame him.
Also, I am forced to listen to someone else’s idea of good Christmas music everyday. I am a wee bit picky (editor’s note: controlling freak, more like it) when it comes to good Christmas music. I’m sure that other people find my personal choice in Christmas music just as annoying as I find everyone else’s. Can we say Mele Kalikimaka, ala Bing Crosby? No one loves that song but me, I think.
Also, does anyone else find it just a little desensitizing to find stores and malls decorate for Christmas in July?
Anyways.
I thought today I would head to my mental attic and dig around for my favorite Christmas memories, namely gifts. I’ve had 33 years of Christmas gifts now, but I only really remember a few. Sorry Mom. I’m sure that sucks to read.
Here’s a few I can remember really well.
The Barbie Styling Head
Ginormous ET pin
Monchichi doll
The Monchichi doll. We used to sing “Monchichi Monchichi, big fat Monchichi…” I don’t know who came up with the lyrics, but they were genius as you can see. The Monchichi sucked thumbs, too. Great big bulbus thumbs.
Awwww yeah, Operation.
Who else out there cut their board game teeth on Operation? The impossibly small pieces you had to extract with the tee tiny tweezers and the alarm that buzzed into your very bones.
Sweet Valley High
The teenage soap opera series also known as Sweet Valley High. A tale of two twin sisters, Jessica and Elizabeth. Jessica being the wild one and Elizabeth the smart and sweet one, except the book where she bumps her head and turns wild and macks on Bruce, the arrogant rich boy in high school…yes, I was a giant fan of Sweet Valley High.
Sounds like tomatoes 
Posted by kim* on December 3, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I loved playing the game Sweet Valley High. I would just sit there alone and play like it was real. Maybe you need some Christmas music?
Posted by soundsliketomatoes on December 3, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Today, I finally busted out the Bing Crosby. I’m not feeling it yet, but maybe I just need to eat or something. Let it all marinate. And dude. I didn’t know there was a SWEET VALLEY HIGH GAME?! Who was your favorite character? Mine was Erin. or was it Edie? Elizabeth’s best friend?
Posted by Insanity Kim on December 3, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Girl, the spirit will come…just turn off the TV, don’t shop at the malls and get some better music…it will come!!!
I LOVE your look back at your personal memory lane of gifts! ACK!!! THAT BARBIE HEAD! Didn’t you have to cover it with a towel when you were done, for fear that she hated your make-up/hairstyle choices and would roll across the floor to bite you (or choke you if she had hands) in your sleep?
My favorite gift was this organ my parents gave me…it had buttons for chords and you could play the melody on the keyboard. It even made that wheezy, give-me-my-inhaler sound. Man I could play “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”, “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Close to You” by The Carpenters like no one else!
Great post! Love it!
Now get in the spirit before I fly over there and thump you on the head with my huge, one-piece nativity scene!
Posted by Vanessa on December 3, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hehe, I totally remember sweet valley high!
I think I was most excited to get the first my size barbie! I probably cried.
Yeah, I haven’t been feeling the ‘spirit’ either! I have no kids, no nieces or nephews… so it’s pretty boring!
Posted by completelyinspired on December 3, 2008 at 6:52 pm
i hope you weren’t referring to my christmas music… 🙂 i hope you find your christmas spirit. 🙂
Posted by Jaime Williamson on December 3, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Hey…I like Mele Kalikimaka too…it’s the song from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation! Have you seen it? Sure, everyone’s seen that! That’ll get you in the Christmas spirit…the cat getting fried in the tree and the tree blowing up in flames! That’s holiday cheer!
My favorite (at the time) Christmas gift was NKOTB tickets. I was speechless! Then when we got to the concert, we were sitting right below the ceiling (I’m afraid of heights)!
Posted by Tami@ourhouse on December 3, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I had all the same gifts, except for the Barbie head. But I wanted it. I was addicted to Sweet Valley High. Wanted a red Cabrio or Fiat or whatever they drove. I got a hula hoop every year. Never learned to Hula Hoop. I also got a ping pong stick one year. Another bust. Then there was the year all four kids in my family got a joint Nintendo, old school. We couldn’t afford games, so we got really really good at Super Mario Brothers.
Favorite gift ever? Purple ten speed. I rode that baby up and down my grandparent’s circular drive like nobody’s business. Probably listening to the Bangles on my walkman.
This was fun- thanks!
Posted by sara on December 4, 2008 at 12:56 am
One of my favorite Christmas memories is watching my roomate (you) start making gifts in EARLY November….maybe October…because she wanted to give something special to just about everyone. You taught me how to make the wreath that you push little pieces of material into. (My mother-in-law still has one hung on her wall 🙂 Anyway….no gift-making session was complete without “the Christmas music”…it is a fond memory.
As far as finding the Christmas spirit…..sometimes simplicity is key. Bethlehem wasn’t exactly full of Christmas spirit either, but Jesus still came. And, I am so glad.
You’re great!
Posted by Aunt Shanon on December 4, 2008 at 1:00 am
My favorite gift was the Christmas your Mom & I got scooters, pogo sticks & I finally got a baby doll with blonde hair and your mom got the baby doll with black hair. Grandma kept trying to tell me that Santa made a mistake on the baby dolls, but I insisted he knew what he was doing. It was the only blonde baby I ever got.
Put on your Bing Crosby or Jackie Gleason, if you have any, and let the spirit take over you. It will come.
Is it me, or does that Barbie head look a little like Barbara Lee? I thinkI see a resembalance there.
Love you kiddo.
Posted by Amy on December 4, 2008 at 2:08 am
I could go on in great depth about Christmas presents but I will not. Instead I want to go down the memory lane of Christmas music: My favorite Christmas song of all time is Baby It’s Cold Outside. (Which is not really a Christmas song at all–still, I love it.) Many people sing it, but Christmas Music should be crooned so I prefer Dean Martin’s version. And the reason I love it? Because I heard it the first time on Blossom. I LOVED Blossom!
Good Luck finding your Christmas Spirit–keep in mind that you still have over 20 days!
Posted by tr3n1ty on December 4, 2008 at 2:10 am
I remember all of those gifts too. I think one of my favorite gifts was the .22 rifle. I still have it too. Oh, but first favorite was the swiss army knife. I used EVERY one of the attachments. I lent it to a ‘friend’ a couple of years ago for 10 minutes and she lost it. Ah regrets.
Posted by wendiwinn on December 4, 2008 at 6:07 am
i never read any sweet valley high. i reckon it’s similar to the twilight series. only… without the vampires. but what do i know? i shan’t read the twilight books, either.
don’t knock monchichi’s fists. hahaha. knock. fists. you use your fists to knock… hahah… eh. nevermind.
i’ll send you a loverly christmas present this year to add to your wonderful memories. it’ll probably be late.
Posted by soundsliketomatoes on December 4, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Sadly, Sweet Valley High probably is very similar to Twilight. It’s all drama, drama, drama but with really pretty people.
Posted by Christa on December 5, 2008 at 4:15 am
I loved Sweet Valley High! My favorite twins with the peaches and cream complexions! I don’t think I missed one of those books. Much better the Martin Chuzzlewitz:)
And I still sing…..High up in the trees…lived the monchichis….Good memories.
Boogars and Boobs! And Nuba pawing through your hair!
Posted by Christa on December 5, 2008 at 4:34 am
Forgot to tell you my favorite christmas present. That was last year. Let me start at the beginning….
I do not possess the gift giving gift. I am always astounded that some people can give a gift that is exactly what you never knew you wanted and can’t believe you have lived without. These are the kind of people who know you deep down…and you never suspected a thing. My sister in law is one of these amazing creatures. By the luck of the draw she picked my name out of the hat for secret santa last year. She was in touch with a pastor that was selling pages of a 1599 Geneva bible that came over on the Mayflower. She knew my favorite book was Ruth…and bought the first page of that book and framed it. It now sits on my mantel in it’s prized spot. And it isn’t too hard to read if you remember old engish is v for u:) By far my favorite Christmas present to date! I hope she picks my name this year.
Posted by Nikki on December 8, 2008 at 1:49 am
I’m late getting in on this conversation, but I LOVED the Sweet Valley High books! And before that, I devoured the Babysitters Club books. I have no idea what that Monchichi thing is though.
Posted by Dawn Meehan on December 8, 2008 at 1:53 am
Awww the memories – the Barbie head, Operation, SVH books! I LOVED those! I think I got rid of my collection a few years ago. Sigh.
Oh and I’m with you on Bing Crosby! They just don’t make Christmas music the way they used to.
Posted by Mom on December 9, 2008 at 9:53 pm
No, my kids NEVER made me want to stick my head in the oven. Only my current husband has that kind of power. My favorite Christmas memory is the year I got a Lolly-Pop tree…I must have been all of 3 years old (so watch it, if I can remember back to when I was 3 then when Emma & Addieare older, they will remember that far back too. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. The only thing that has EVER topped that in my memory bank is the year I got Candy Apple red metalic flake shoes. Those were AWSOME and I never wanted to take them off. If you look at my fee now, you can see what a bad habit that can be! One of my sisters has a picture of us all that year and my smile is a mile wide! What a great memory. If you’re still lacking the Christmas spirit, I can loan you my shoes!
Posted by Dawn Mathews on December 8, 2009 at 2:21 am
Yes my kids want to make me rip the deck off the house and throw it on the neighbor’s rooftop. As I sit here typing Dorian and I just had a round with each other. Why did you peel the chunks of sheetrock away from the wall when we just painted your room for your birthday? Answer: you guessed it…I don’t know. Lost it right there ladies. Most of the time they are wonderful, but when the demons come forth, it’s war! Christmas memories: I have one; ornaments. I love them and each year my family gives each other an ornament on Thanksgiving. So we have about a gazillion of them. We write the name and date on them if we can and some of the ornaments, sad to say date back 39 years! Also if a dearly beloved toy makes it to that special level it is elevated to an ornament. Holly Hobbie had this hamburger grilling out set (what a cool rockin chick to be grillin back in the 70’s – you go girl!) So anyway her little brown dog who I called Ralph is an ornament. Ralph would go everywhere with us. Once he fell in a Pepsi at Pizza Hut and we had to fish him out. These are the memories I experience everytime I open the box of ornaments. I can remember where I was and who I was with when I bought them etc. And Kearsie, as good as this year has been, I must say I was reluctant to get out the Christmas boxes this year. I seizes me every now in then. This year it hit me for about a week. You were there when my Christmases became dull and lifeless, it seems like forever ago. The day Silas died Steve and I came home to our scank little house across from the Graceville Post Office and he, my mom, and I had to take down the Christmas tree. I felt like God had ripped my heart straight from my body. Take heart, the spirit will return, because the Spirit lives. I am thankful for Christmas memories…even the bad ones.