Mission Accomplished!

Well, I've done my good deed for this holiday season! Last night, G, E, L, S and I (otherwise known as Gretchen, Elizabeth, Laura, Sarah and myself) descended on our local Target armed with an Angel Tree tag bearing the name of little 8 year-old girl named Anissa, who's only Christmas wish is for a stuffed puppy dog. Well, she definitely got the stuffed puppy dog - along with a pile of other stuff! I admit, we might have gotten a bit carried away. We spent quite a bit of time in the children's clothing section squealing at the adorableness of various outfits (we also ended up buying her a pink winter coat with matching gloves). And then - AND THEN - we made our way to the toy department. Oh, the toy department! I haven't had so much fun in the toy department since I was an 8 year-old myself! Did you know Cabbage Patch Kids and Care Bears are back in vogue now?!?! I nearly had a child-size fit over the new Barbie TV Food Chef play set that G discovered (oh yeah, we bought it) and E was pretty much obsessed with an automated puppy that fits in its own little purse. It was good fun.

Today at lunch time I took the haul of presents over to the Salvation Army headquarters, and I was happy to see a long line of people dropping off their donations at the same time. Inside, I handed the goods over to an employee, and I made her swear that Anissa and only Anissa would get these presents - we've gotten a little attached to our Angel Tree kid, and I didn't want Anissa's wealth getting spread around. I left feeling very satisfied that at least one kid is going to have a very merry Christmas!

On another note, I watched the annual showing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the other night, and as always it made me cry. When I was a very little kid my dad thought it would be great to start the tradition of watching that clay-mation classic every year, so one evening while my mom was out he and I sat on the living room floor and watched it. About halfway through I got so upset that I started bawling and begging him to turn it off. I think I've been traumatized ever since. However, I still watch it every year - Cornelius Yukon, Kirby the Elf who wants to be a dentist, Clarisse, Skinny Santa - its just great stuff...