The first thing I did today other than suck down coffee was wrap presents. Yesterday before work, I got packages ready to mail. I’m not bragging, I just like to have presents bought and ready before American Thanksgiving rolls around. I get that I’m missing Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the new shopping on Thanksgiving thing. Instead of facing big crowds or camping out over night or getting up at the crack of dawn to shop, when I see things that someone would just love, I buy them. That’s how I roll.

I’m a huge fan of online shopping, much to Daniel in our mailroom’s chagrin. This time of year, instead of saying hello to me in the hall, Daniel says, “No packages today, Miss Julie.” We’ve already had our “big box” talk. I reminded him that he doesn’t need to bring me anything big, just call me when it comes and I’ll drag it out to my car. He doesn’t think that’s right and still brings me the big boxes to my office. I just drag them back to the elevator and down to my car. Daniel asked me the other day if I ever go to stores (I prefer not to) and he thinks that it’s really funny that people might steal my packages off my porch so that’s why I ship them to the office.

Today, my Easy Bake Oven supplies showed up on my porch thanks to the USPS. I screwed up and put my home address as the delivery address for Amazon. Oops! At work we adopt kids for the holidays and the little girl I adopted really wanted an Easy Bake Oven. Her mom said she needed a warm coat. So she’s getting both plus some other stuff thanks to excellent sales at Target and Amazon. Did you have one of those ovens when you were a kid? I didn’t. But I wanted one. The ones now are not nearly as awesome. First, they only come with one mix. How is that fun? You’re probably going to mess up the first batch.

Second, this is what they look like now:

No window!

This is what I remember about Easy Bake Ovens:

But I digress. In case you think I’m all done for the holiday festivities, I also give a lot of food presents. I enjoy making them and most people (or at least their family and friends) enjoy eating them. Those I make in the fall if they’re canned (hello Cowboy Candy) or right before I give them if they’re a sweet treat (peppermint bark, cookies, or the thing I’m considering for  2014, fudge).

I’ve watched the neighborhood over the last week or so and seen a lot of Christmas lights go up already. Even a few Christmas trees. I’ve been watching the photos coming out of Ontario with envy since they are all pretty winter wonderland. It’s really making me want to decorate!

Yep, I’ve got holidayitis. We’re not sending Christmas cards this year, at least that is what we’ve decided at this point. Maybe New Year’s cards. We have a method to our madness.

I am counting down the days to my Christmas vacation. I am anxious to start the American Thanksgiving holiday that I will spend in Canada (more about that later). There is so much going on during this 2014 holiday season including my grandma’s 100th birthday. It’s going to be a very crazy next 5 weeks. But I don’t care.

Holidayitis has hit me hard. We’re not decking the halls of the Dallas house this year, but I get to decorate at work. And I get to throw a party at work. We have two festive dinners next week — Friday and Saturday. We have parties galore in December. We have a big roadtrip. We’re going to see lots of friends and family. And I’ll be going to Pennsylvania for Grandma’s big birthday party.

It’s not stopping when the ball drops on December 31. Nope, my twin nieces turn 5 this year so it’s off to San Diego one weekend in January. We’ll get to meet their new little sister too. Now if we can only keep the party feeling going until my birthday in March…

Today the Gs have been in rare form. Check out the attitude on the gratuitous dog photo of the day: