Three Tiny Christmas Shopping Blog Tales - All From The Same Day

Christmas Tale No. 1

I'm buying 37 Christmas cards at once. One for my mom. One for my dad. One for my mom and dad together. One for my brother. One for my son. One from my son for his grandparents. The list goes on.
As I'm picking out cards and rating their cry factor - cards at my house that score at least a 7.5 out of 10 will elicit tears from my mother. An eight also gets a high five from me to my brother or father and vice versa. A nine deserves a tackle. How'd you out do my card?! And a 10? Well, I'm not sure Hallmark has made one of those yet.
As I'm choosing cards (and let me just say I've picked some doozies this year) an older woman comes up to me and watches me as I rock Little Man with my foot while he's in his car seat. "How old?" she asks. "Just over three months," I say. She stands there. Staring, staring, staring, staring at my baby ... Finally, she whispers "I'm sorry. It's just that I want to be a grandmother so much." She crawls away, whimpering. I make a mental note to call my mother and tell her she's a good grandma.


Christmas Tale No. 2

I'm in an electronics store buying an Xbox game for my bro.*
I pick out of game. I've got a $59.99 treat in one hand and Little Man in the other. I head to the cashier.
The cashier, an older man, probably in his 50s or 60s, smiles and says: "You know you have to be 17 to buy that game? Can I see some ID, please, ma'am?"
Ah, he must have been blind but it made my day.
He also made me a teenage mommy.


Christmas Tale No. 3
Back to the card store: As I'm rummaging through the cards trying to see if there's one that says "Merry Christmas to my personal trainer" - and why not because there are ones for the paper delivery boy - I spy on a couple in their 30s who are having one heck of a time buying cards. The man is bragging about how, when it comes to cards, he can pick a good one. The woman is wandering around, questioning his decisions. Finally, they separate for a few minutes and the man discovers a section of the store where all the cards play songs. He picks one up and opens it to hear the song. He smiles and closes it. Opens it again to hear the song. He smiles and closes it. This goes on a number of times. Finally, his wife reappears and tells him she doesn't think they should waste money on cards that play music. "Well, this one was going to be your card anyway," he says. She tells him she hates the fact that every year they buy their Christmas cards for each other together.
Together?!
Wow, holy romantic.

*Note: Xbox game may or may not be for my brother. Can not say for sure on the grounds it may incriminate me and ruin Christmas Day.

There might be more(or not)

Let them eat quiche!

My dad is really, really tired of hearing about poo and all things associated with poo. Baby poo. Baby farts. Baby diapers. Baby poo. Baby pee. Yellow poo. Brown poo. Yellow poo with green flecks. Poo that seems thicker after a couple of meals of formula instead of breast milk.

Poo, poo, poo.

Well, today, three of my peeps and I talked about baby poo, baby farts and baby diapers and there was no daddy-o there to say "enough already! Can't we talk about something other than bowel movements?"

We did talk about other things: Daycare, naps, strollers, exercise, jobs, university, first babies, second babies and breastfeeding but we were also free to talk about the p-word.

Every Wednesday morning, a group of us get together with trainer Tracie Smith-Beyak and exercise our buns off. I've talked about Tracie and her Kingston company, BodyNow4Mums, here before but I wanted to pay homage to her again - tis the season to be thankful.

Since I joined her power walking/conditioning group in October, I've felt and seen my body change. My baby tummy is flatter. My legs feel stronger and I can lunge with the best of 'em. Sure, I've also been exercising on my own but I always crap out when I'm going solo. I skip that last set of crunches or decide to cut my jog by 10 minutes but you can't pull a fast one when you've got Tracie watching over you.

This week, I went to the gym to go for a run. Usually, when I've been inactive for a few months - or, nine months when I was pregnant - I can only run a three-minute race. Seriously.

This week, I power-walked for five and then ran my heart out for another 15 minutes and then power walked for five more minutes. In total, I covered almost two kilometres and burned 200 calories. I chalk it up to my Wednesday power mornings.

But something else important is happening on Wednesday mornings: Us gals are bonding - not just over babies but feeling the burn. And this week, we gathered at one of the women's houses for quiche, muffins, French toast, and gab.

One of the women in the Wednesday morning class told us all a story about being out in Kingston and seeing a sad and exhausted-looking new mommy. She said the new mommy confessed she didn't have any friends with babies and felt very alone. The woman in my class gave the new mommy her phone number and said to call at any time.

I've been there. My two best girlfriends also don't have babies yet and so there have been times I wanted some company - just someone to say "Hey, do you share your bed with your baby?" or "How much did you spend on your baby jogging stroller?"

So, to all you new mommies (or soon to be mommies who'll be ready to work out in a couple of months) visit Tracie's site, e-mail her or give her a call and see if one of her classes work for you. (Christmas present, wink, wink.) And come hang out with us.

This is my way of reaching out to those of you who need someone to listen to you - and won't judge you if you do want to ask about poo.

Once the winter BodyNow4Mums term starts, we're going to hang out after some of our classes - a chance for mommies to talk, chill and eat quiche.

Plus, I make a mean cracker and cheese plate you really don't want to miss.

There might be more(or not)