Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Decorating: check

The stockings have been hung by the chimney. With care, even! So I'm feeling (a little) better about this whole Christmas thing. On Saturday we acquired and decorated the tree and put Santa in his rightful place. On Sunday we dragged the whole fam damily to the mall for a gift shopping blitz and accomplished quite a bit.

Jo picked out a really elegant nightgown for my mom. She had her little change purse with her, containing her entire life savings, and wanted to buy the bright red socks that matched the night-shirt. "How do I make fifteen dollars?" she asked. "You'd need sixty quarters," I said. She consulted her purse. "How else do I make fifteen dollars?" I hated to break it to her: "Well ... you would have to have one hundred and fifty dimes." As her other grandma would say, the poor lamb. Fifteen dollars might as well have been a million. I offered to buy the socks and all was well.

...until we returned home that evening, and realized the little pink change purse was gone. Cue waterworks. We checked all our pockets and bags -- nothing. We distracted Jo, coaxed her and Opie into the bathtub and then into bed. But more than an hour and a half after she'd fallen asleep (when I was deep into my online shopping session, getting everything I hadn't picked up at the mall) she woke up and burst into tears, brokenhearted at her loss. I couldn't do anything to calm her and she eventually cried herself to sleep.

But! Happy ending! It only took two phone calls the next day to locate the precious purse, carefully stowed in a locked drawer at Williams-Sonoma. Jeff picked it up and couldn't resist buying this as well. So much for present overload.

Unrelated (well, draw your own conclusions): Care to comment?

12 comments:

Julie Pippert said...

According to Patience, Santa's rightful place is jail. Trespasser. ;) (See Wednesday blog for details LOL.)

And so glad you found the purse. Isn't it amazing the lengths we'll go to for our kids. :)

Julie
Using My Words

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad Williams-Sonoma had the purse! Kids get so attached to things like that. Oh, and my answer to the "how can I make X dollars?" question? A list of chores-scoop the kitty litter and refill it, $2.00. Empty all the wastebaskets into a trash bag and take it out? $2.00. Etc. It's amazing how many chores kids will do when they really want to!

Elizabeth
Table for Five

Nancy said...

I completely want those little car cakey things now. They are adorable.

Suzanne said...

How nice that someone turned in the purse!

On a completely unrelated note, we have two of those stockings at our house. I love your good taste!

Lady M said...

Glad the purse was found!

It's fun to remember how different money is at stage of life. When we were first dating, my husband was adding a new gear and engine (or something like that) to a childhood remote control car that his parents had found in the basement and sent to him. He was so thrilled. When he last played with the car, the $50 cost was waaaay beyond his allowance money, but as an adult, no problem!

Julie Marsh said...

I'm impressed that Jo was so concerned about her purse. Tacy throws money around like it grows on trees.

And I really didn't need to click over to WS. That store entices even those of us who don't cook!

Anonymous said...

So glad the purse was found! I love the term "poor lamb" and plan on using it at every opportunity. Also, I would like one of everything from Williams Sonoma.

Jennifer, Le Binky Bitch

Patois42 said...

A happy ending. I love happy endings.

Bon said...

i remember losing my little purse as a kid and being inconsolable - i was SURE i'd never in all my life collect so much money again.

so glad Jo (and you) had a happy ending!

Binkytowne said...

Wow. I want to pop one of those entire cars in my mouth. If that doesn't get you in the spirit I don't know what does!

Alex Elliot said...

I'm impressed with how you were able to convert the change! Sometimes when I'm with my kids, I have a hard time remembering my name, not to mention their names, much less being able to quickly say that 15 dollars is 60 quarters!

GHD said...

I saw those at Williams-Sonoma, too, and almost bought it for myself! They are too cute!

I'm glad the change purse found its way back to Jo. That's a really sweet story.