The kind of day I had today was not mentioned in even one holiday song.—Paula Poundstone

Yes, Paula my dear, that says it all! I discovered the order I had placed at Amazon went to Spanish Fork, Utah, instead of here--apparently the last time I placed an order, I had it shipped to M. at school. I asked the school to send it up here and it was supposed to arrive last night but it didn’t. That was half the stuff that was going to be under the tree. I decided to make cookie-cutter cookies, something I only attempt every several years after the horror of it all has worn off. And it was as difficult as always. Wanting non-artificially colored yellow sugar crystals to top them with, I discovered that yellow is the one color all stores are out of. The purchase of a used darkroom setup for the girls failed to spark any initiative in them—they are glad to have it, but…if it means actually cleaning up the special room we have for it, why, they’d rather not, thank you very much. Purchasing adorable little holiday cards through church proved to be a further complication—I ended up supporting not only the social justice works of my church, but also the U.S. Post Office. There is a 20 cent surcharge for mailing perfectly square envelopes, which I did not discover until after I had laboriously written, addressed, and sealed said cards. I would have used larger envelopes but having already addressed them I just couldn’t face the extra work, and paid an extra $9 in postage.
Well, it just goes on and on, this litany of crawling negativity. BUT I can always print photos of the items I ordered and put those under the tree. The cookies look ok and are delicious enough that my black thoughts fade quickly whenever I glance at them, and the cookie cutters are in the Goodwill bag. I went ahead and cleaned the darkroom and sent the girls off to transport all the items down there; hopefully they will linger and chat about where things should go. I don’t mind that my $9 went to the post office; they need it and really mailing things through it is still such bargain when you think about it. I emailed the Unitarian Universalist Association and asked them not to sell square cards next year. Now I will bake a ham and a potato casserole and green beans and socca (chickpea flatbread) and fill the stockings and then I will be finished.