Compartment 14B
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2008 is over? Really? 2008-12-31 - 9:32 p.m. I moved so much during university, and for a few years after, that it still feels novel to finish a year in the same house as I started out in. Since we’re moving again in six months, I won’t have that sensation this coming year, but for now I’m enjoying the fact that we have two sets of Christmas pictures in this house. Last year I was pregnant at this time and had just “come out” as such to my co-workers so everyone finally knew. This year I have a six-month-old baby and am pretty certain that I won’t be having any more. My mother made the most awesome stockings for my kids. I wish, wish, WISH I could take pics and post them for you to see, but they have their names on them and, well, I hate to break it to you, but my kids’ real names aren’t actually Grommet and Biscuit. Now that Grommet is almost 3, this year is the first year she’s really gotten into the Santa thing. She still couldn’t be persuaded to sit on his knee, but she was keen on the whole leaving-him-cookies thing for sure, especially since it meant having extra cookies in the house ‘cause you can’t exactly bake only three of them. In case you’re wondering, yes, we tell her that Santa is coming, but if she asks if he’s real we won’t lie to her. So far she’s just taken him at face value so we’re going with that. Also, in our house Santa is strictly a stocking-filler only. No actual wrapped gifts. We think the credit for a good gift should go to the person who actually thought of it and went to the trouble and expense of getting it. I was pleased with the gifts we got for the kids. Certainly Grommet seemed to appreciate them all; from the Spiderman, Curious George and Disney Princess bandaids, right on up to the Bilibo. Biscuit got a couple of things that were definitely too old for him now, but that we felt he’d feel the lack of when he got older and his sister had them and he didn’t. For instance, we got them both aprons because I wear mine when Grommet and I bake together. They’ll be good for crafts too. He also got a Bilibo and, really, I do think they’re better in pairs since they fit together well. It’s funny, but I really tried to not go overboard for these holidays. We set a spending cap with the ‘rents and I tried to keep the kids’ gifts reasonable. They’re only 6 months and almost-3 after all. In the end though, it still seemed like an orgy of gifts. Partly this is because the grandparents’ spending limit didn’t seem to apply to the kids, partly it’s because in the past J was the one who got Grommet’s big gifts so when Christmas was near and I’d been the one to get the majority of the gifts, he felt like he hadn’t gotten enough and was afraid there wouldn’t be much to unwrap under the tree. So, there was an eleventh-hour run to the store for a couple of bulky things to add to my carefully planned pile. I can’t complain about how things turned out for me though: I got a lot of stuff I wanted, including a 50mm lens for my camera and a UV filter for it. I’ve also realized that the money I’ve been hoarding through little odd jobs and birthday and Christmas gifts has added up to a tidy sum that might just allow me to splash out on the newest version of Photoshop. Not that it’s covered the lot, mind you, but it’s reduced the amount that I think of as the part that I’d be out of pocket for significantly enough to maybe justify the purchase. Something to think about. I’ve really got to make a decision though: if my photography is going to be a self-supporting hobby or not. That is to say, I don’t expect to make a living at it, but even if I’m going to try to make enough money for it to pay for itself in terms of equipment (camera stuff, software, printer, website, etc.) I’ll need to bite the bullet and invest a bit of time and cash on it soon. Well, I feel safe in saying that this is one decision I can leave until next year. Particularly since next year is, at this very moment, two and a half hours away. Happy New Year everyone! May 2009 be all you hope it to be!
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The last day of 2008 has totally snuck up on me. I’m sure I’ll be writing dates with the wrong year on cheques for at least a month, whereas usually by now I’m already starting to get ahead of myself and write the year coming up too early.
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