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Maybe it was the Michelle Pfeiffer Netflix movie I watched the other night - Oh What Fun - that affected me, as she played in a mom role doing EVERYTHING in her motherly and womanly power to create the "perfect Christmas" for her kids visiting from other states: shopping, wrapping, buying groceries, cooking, taking out the trash, setting up chairs, serving, and never sitting down as her family played on their phones, watched TV and lounged on the couch.
Maybe it was watching that - or maybe the SHOES just kept finding me Tuesday in DSW shoe warehouse ... as I walked out carrying 5 new pair ... FIVE!!
Mamma mia ... MERRY CHRISTMAS to ME!
I felt guilty for buying so many shoes, yet truth be told, A) they were all on the clearance rack; and B) each pair served a different purpose for different occasions (including one had-to-have fabulous pair of leopard heels - every woman needs those!); and C) I am returning one pair that I'm unsure I like. And in my defense, I did go into my closet upon arriving home to pluck out 4 pairs of older shoes to donate to charity.
(Good rule of thumb after buying something ... as you add the new garment/shoes/accessory into your closet, pull out a similar item to donate to charity.)
As I was walking to my car carrying my phenomenal shoe finds, boxes piled up to my chin, a lady rode by in her car and jokingly yelled out the window, "I hope one of those boxes is for me!!" ... to which I replied, "Ha! Merry Christmas to ME, right?!!?"
On the guilty ride home, I thought, now why CAN'T I treat myself amidst these Christmas chores - as commercialized and materialistic as it sounds to buy 5 pairs of shoes? It is not like I go shoe-shopping DAILY. (Although I really-really-really like shoe shopping.)
Here I am these December days (as many of you are, too) trying to plan "the perfect Christmas" Michelle-Pfeiffer-style for my 4 adult kids, 2 daughters-in-law, 1 hubby, 1 Dachshund, and 3 grandkiddies: buying, shopping, wrapping, planning Christmas breakfast & dinner menus, making the long grocery / ingredients list, scanning recipe books, grocery shopping, figuring out what gifts will make everyone happy, decorating the house all by myself (Hello? Hubby? Where are you hiding??) and spending hours on my laptop creating a funny Family Feud Christmas game for the adult kiddos to win some ca$h.
So remind me again ... why I can't do a little 5-shoe salute Merry Christmas to ME???
Snippeteers - for those of you who DO IT ALL (while one or more members of your family are sitting on the couch), don't forget YOURSELF in the Christmas process. In whatever way makes you happy, with whatever simple pleasures that delight you, go ahead and treat yourself amidst your Christmas chores. Maybe it's taking some ME time to sit in a quaint coffee shop sipping your double-espresso-mocha-peppermint-latte with whipped cream. Maybe it's sitting still long enough to watch your all-time favorite Christmas movie. Or maybe it's buying shoes.
Whatever it is ... you deserve it. And remember, it's EXTRA FUN if you wrap a few of your own gifts and write on the tags, "TO ME ... FROM ME" to open on Christmas morning!
So, go ahead ... have a little "MERRY CHRISTMAS to ME." Santa told me you were very good this year!
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