Christmas Karma

I LOVE buying people presents, and I LOVE receiving them, too. So today was a super fun day because I exchanged gifts with some of the families I babysit for. Everyone loved their cookies (even if there were some tears because you have to wait until after lunch to have a monogrammed gingerbread cookie).

Jake and Luke each got a book, and then a pop-up Thomas the Tank Engine play tent, which was a huge hit. Seeing their faces light up was worth every penny. In return, I got a yummy gift bag, with a big, red, Starbucks mug, their hot cocoa trio, a gift card**, and a box of Sprinkles red velvet cupcake mix that will be perfect for breaking any New Year's weight loss resolutions I might think about making.

Meredith almost cried when I gave her my cookie, but if it wasn't for her I wouldn't know anyone in San Diego (she pimps me out to her favorite families with the agreement that I always hold dates for her first). Tom and Mere moved from NYC a few years ago, so I gave them Muji's NYC in a bag. Birgen got a glittery coloring pack, Zuzu got some Ratatouille paraphernalia, and Race got his first remote control car. I got big hugs and O's Guide to Life.

**The Starbucks gift card came in really handy when I opened my passenger side door and smashed myself in the forehead. I wandered around B&N for a little while, picking up some sale Christmas cards for next year, and then bought a nice, icy, lite, tall peppermint mocha frappuccino that I held to the quarter-sized lump on my head as I drove home (and a cranberry bliss bar to ease the sting).