It’s November.

(The title of this post should be read in the voice used for the It’s Lindsay lead-in on The Soup. You watch The Soup, right? If not, you should. Hilarity).

I posted on November 1, which… well, that was mostly an accident, really. You know what that means though, right? I’ve pretty much got myself into a feeling of “hey, I blogged on a Sunday! That means I should participate in NaBloPoMo!”

But nope. I’m resisting. I really don’t need another obligation on my plate right now, but I am thrilled for all of you who are participating because it was a pretty great experience last year. I will be writing a lot, though, even if it doesn’t all live and breathe here in this forum.

last week, I picked a story back up from some character notes I’d written years ago – again, something I found in the boxes in our office. It’s a character study really; I’m not sure that it’s anything that will develop into a real story, but I may use this month as an excuse/obligation to work more on it and see if I can flesh it out, coax it to life. It’s been so long since I attempted any type of fiction – maybe this is a great time to do so. Maybe my non-participation in NaBloPoMo will be my excuse.

As a side note – I really need to either repair my laptop or pull the files from it. There are a lot of ideas and thoughts contained there, and pawing through all the boxes I found has got me curious about what’s on there as well. Iremember bits of it, but I know I’d find a few surprises.

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So Christmas is coming. I’ve succeeded in angering some of the people in my office by putting up our Christmas tree. I swear, sometimes my life is really more like an episode of The Office than I care to admit, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. In my defense, it’s because our company adopts a family at Christmas, and we pull gift tags from the tree to choose gifts to provide for them. I’m just trying to give everyone some time, people! Time to shop, buy, whatever.

I myself have already started wrapping, and that feels fantastic. I’ve been a big old slacker the past two years (see: category “Madeline”) and am determined not to fall into the same trap this year.

I love the holidays, though. I really do. They were always fabulously fun at my house growing up, and I’m determined that Madeline will have the same experience.

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Speaking of holidays… what are your Christmas gift-giving rules for your kids?

I’m asking because it’s been very difficult not to go overboard. Very. I’ve kept a list of everything that I’ve bought for Madeline (since it’s getting wrapped as it comes into the house and would be easy to forget) and it’s – longish. Maybe longer than it should be for a 22-month old girl.

Last year was easy. She was 10 months old! What does a 10-month old really like, or want, anyway? She liked to be read to; we bought her some books. I felt that she needed a New Large Plastic Object since her gym had been outgrown, and so we bought her the Laugh & Learn Kitchen (which was admittedly money well spent as she’s still playing with it a year later).

 There were a few other things (most notably, the lovely engraved ornament we chose for her and her Christmas stocking – oh, I am nothing if not sentimental) but it was easy to be restrained, because she was a baby and had everything she needed. More than she needed. Jimmy and I went shopping one evening to accomplish all this, and were satisfied that we wouldn’t spoil our child. We decided that each year we’d go shopping together to choose an ornament for her – something that represents a bit of her year. When she’s bigger, she can come along; hopefully, it will turn into one of those family “things” that we just do together.

Now… this year? I feel like all that’s gone out the window. She is a person now, with distinct likes and dislikes, and she’s so easy to shop for. Her stocking is complete, full of Elmo fun; I’ve assembled the big-girl kitchen we bought her. I’ve wrapped the rest of her presents, but I keep thinking of (and seeing) things she may like.

I am picked up what I have determined to be her last gift at Target a few nights ago. Unless I can find a nice child-size table at this weekend’s Mom-to-Mom sale. Then, she will get that as well. Otherwise, I’m calling it done, because really – her birthday is coming too!

So how do you stick to a list for your kids? What’s your strategy? Educate me, please.