My Xmas Wish List

Mid-July. Sweltering weather.  Sunny and hot, 84 degrees, with a short break on the humidity.  Just a short break though, as rain is expected within the next two days.  I should be outside putzing in my gardens or mowing the lawn, but a headache has kept me inside.  Today even the bird song is an unwelcome noise.  So my thoughts turn to plans; plans for my gardens, my solar fountain, plans for the months ahead.  Summer passes quickly into fall and then of course, we have the Marathon of Holidays
to contend with, all of which tend to go a bit smoother with just a bit of forethought and planning.

My partner Tim always states that it is best to have a plan - know what you are going to be doing ahead of time, act on it and it's done right.  However, about a week prior to an event that we have 'planned' he has conveniently forgotten all that was discussed.  I need a strap-on digital recorder.  So I think, what is the point?  You make the plan and then something else comes up, you plan the meal and the kids decide to go elsewhere, you purchase the gifts and find out that they've bought them already.  So again, what's the point?

Well, tell the truth, there isn't any.  Pre-planning for the holidays is just a procedure that is ingrained into us 'project' types.  One of the hopeless tasks that we do by rote. I think about this for a bit and find myself in the beginning stages of making lists for what has to be done.  Thought One:  What can I do now to make the holiday season less of an emotional and a monetary hit. I haven't quite realized that, yes, I've started on the 'great plan'.  Again.

I'm stopped by that sharp searing remembrance of the headache that is lying behind my eyes.  For a moment all planning stops and fades, but one idea still remains:  My Wish List.  My very own, not someone else's. This list doesn't get written often.  In the larger scheme of things it gets thought about but doesn't go much further than that.  I keep pushing it off, closer and closer to deadline time until about 2 days before the holiday and Tim asks, "So, what do YOU want for Christmas?".  Egads, I've done it again and of course the only answer that I have for him is, "World Peace".

At this point, sitting here with pen, paper and computer in front of me, and headache that is finally starting to subside, I think that I may be able to pound a wish list out, one that is expandable and postable amongst the photographs, recipes, and magnets on the front of the refrigerator. I'll start small, say 5-10 items, then I'll be able to easily manage it.  So folks, here is my initial Xmas Wish List......

• A gift certificate from Heirloom Roses - so that I can add to my rose garden more and more and more until roses consume me,
• A solar oven - I've always wanted to try one of these. During the summer months I'd love to bake, but it heats up the kitchen too much. Actually, let's expand the solar oven to an outdoor brick oven.  I'd even love to build it myself, all I need are the materials.  We'd all enjoy the wonderful artisan breads and pizza that I could make from this, summer and winter.
• Steely Dan CDs - All of them.  Actually I think I should have put this first on the list.
• Clothes Clips. - These are for my wonderful Fusion Powered Clothes Dryer.  Those that I have are getting old and non-functional, and while we are talking clips, let's talk re-setting the dryer into some concrete and adding some color....pastel lines maybe?
• A sound barrier  - that I can place between the RR tracks and our property. After 10 years of horn happy engineers at 3 and 5 am, the ambiance is getting old.
• A job. Preferably one that would start shortly after the first of the year with great benefits and excellent pay.  One in which I can work out of my home office (dream on poor sucker). I'm not asking for much on this one.
• A Gardener!  - Just someone to do the heavy work and the weeding.  I'll plant and prune and harvest and sit back and watch him work hard.  I'd prefer one with nice muscular arms, abs and buns, blue eyes and curly beach bum hair (color not important)....and as long as we're on the subject of gardeners, how about a maid too.  I hate housework and am insulted by vacuum cleaners.

I think that's a good start for now.  Oh!  I almost forgot the most important Wish List item:

World Peace - No explanation needed here.