Countdown to the holidays, part 1 -- gathering presents

December is always an especially challenging month for our family. At one point, I did enjoy the holidays, but now it's just one more overwhelming thing. I try to do less each year, but it seems that the events take on a snowball effect. I think it's fun for the kids, but for my husband and me, there are so many tasks at hand and most of them have to do with gathering presents. We celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, and my son's birthday is December 16. It's easy for his birthday to get lost in all of the other celebrations, especially if there's an overlap when Hanukkah happens on the same days as his birthday or Christmas. And for him, it's the best part of the year, but he complains because he has to wait so long to get his presents.

This year, each event can be celebrated separately. Hanukkah runs for eight days, then we'll have a 3-day break until my son's birthday party and birthday. And then 8 days until Christmas eve. Last year it all came together, with Hanukkah starting on the day of his birthday.

My husband and I started gathering presents the week before Thanksgiving, but we haven't wrapped anything yet. We are planning to get started with that tonight. Our closet is starting to bulge, and the space under our bed is filled with books. I even have a stack of books hidden on the file cabinet, in plain view in my dining room. I have the spines turned inside. The kids will get a lot of books for Hanukkah. Toys and other things for Christmas. We used to send out about 100 cards to our friends and family, but last year we couldn't keep up with it. We sent out a Kodak photo album to our friends, but later realized that many people didn't even open it up, or didn't receive it. I'm still going to try it again this year. I may just send an email note with a photo or two actually in the email.

As I'm writing this, I am suddenly interrupted by the some annoying noise from my upstairs neighbors, and I need to pause to put some music on Pandora.com. OK, I'm back and now I'm listening to a radio station featuring music by Pink and related songs.

A few nights ago when I was studying late into the night, I smelled smoke and heard a guy jabbering away on a cell phone. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I peaked out my front window only to find that there was a guy sitting on his window sill, smoking away. I think I startled him, but then I stormed away and went to bed. It was after 1:00 a.m. anyway.