I'm All Spent Out

It's X'mas around the corner again, yes, I know. And since our company is downsizing, I felt like I should give everyone a X'mas gift. It's our last X'mas together, and although they are getting a severance, I do feel bad for them. My bosses and some other staff have been going around South America to 'get business' or just travel around , so I doubt that there's any money left for them to pay their severance.

So I went to Pottery Barn to get some shadow boxes for two staff that have been quite dear to me, so I can make them some memoribilia with fake snow, tree barks, acorns, and pictures and poems and X'mas decorations, something nice to look at, soemthing that they can hang on their wall. I got ES a big cardigan from Banana, it can act as maternity clothes. (It's gonna be a healthy boy by the way...) JH who walk with me every single day is gonna get a wooden spatula (He's in a stage where he need to impress his boyfriend with his domestic skills and I gave him my Jambalaya recipe and he said his plastic spoon melted during the process) , a salt and pepper shaker, some napkins with printed form who tell cab driver where to drive him and where his money would be when he's drunk. I picked up a nice wallet for a staff, CM, who constantly put her money inside her bra. Ew... And some bracelet for four other staff from Macy's $9 each.

For MH and SR, who have been helping me sometimes, and they have been here for 14 years, I got them a $50 gift certificate to Wal-Mart. So they can stop telling me stories about nearly getting trampled on Black Friday for getting a big discount. SR came to my office the other day and ask how she and her family can access food banks. I feel so bad for her. The volunteer assigned to me, PM, has just told me that she has hodgkins disease, it's some kind of cancer. It's devastating, especially at her old age. I feel very bad for her too and she has been a tremendous help to my work, so I got her a bathrobe. I thought it will keep her warm at home. For my bosses, I just got them some crappy toys. They did enough tricks to get themselves rich, they don't need any extravagant gifts from me, they can buy themselves what they want with their own filthy money. I got some candles for other staff and for people who I don't like, I got nothing. I'm thinking of buying some edibles for other volunteers, I'll have to see.

Mailed $500 for my cousin who's getting married. I have to mail some to my grandma, too. There are too many odd characters in my family that none of them get along with each other. They are constantly isolating themselves. So grandma called me up and said her sons don't want to take care of her anymore. So I felt guilty and offered my help. I went and got two pairs of cufflinks for DC and JEW, they finally made up and JEW got a promotion and now he is even a bigger shot than before and DC gave up his new job in Delaware and stayed in the same company, that company even offered him a bigger salary for staying with them.

I thought Principe Rana would appreciate a professional camera, so I went on Ebay and bid on a digital camera that ES has gotten and loved. It's a Canon EOS Rebel XT with a 18-55mm Lens. It's sold in stores for $800. I accidentally won two of them for around $580 each, so I paid them and I'm now waiting to get them. Once I get both, I think I'll sell one out on Ebay. I was gonna offer the seller $50 if I can get the rest refunded, but since they haven't responded. I'll have to sell them.

Somehow, I get crazy when I buy gifts for X'mas. I should stop thinking myself as Santa Claus or something. I guess I become too obsessive and I aim to please too much.