Well, I’ve made my Christmas list. It’s what we do at our house, not because we are greedy and want to make sure we get things we like, but because we all love giving gifts so much that we beg one another to make lists.
My list includes, but is not limited to, the following: journals (because I have an addiction), coffee shop gift cards (because I like to work in coffee shops, but feel guilty spending the family budget on it no matter how much Todd insists that I “feel free to do that”), chocolate (because everyone needs chocolate), and a specific pair of Sperry’s (not because of the brand, but because they are the closest thing I have ever found to the shoes I owned in college, the shoes that I had resoled three times because they were perfection). OH, and I also LOVE handmade gifts of all kinds (hint, hint, Hopie girl)!
If I get these things, I’ll be happy. If I don’t get these things, I’ll be happy. It’s CHRISTMAS, for goodness sake!
You know what I really want, though, after spending countless hours in holiday traffic, weaving in and out of people while trying to keep my body parts to myself, and sweating over every dollar that leaves my fingers because I want to be generous, but smart?
Mercy! That’s it. No, I’ll take some grace, too, please!
Today, I just want the lady at Hallmark to believe me when I tell her that I wasn’t trying to get by with something when I handed her a coupon that expired in March—the same one that I handed her yesterday, by the way, because I grabbed the wrong coupon AGAIN after throwing the right one away! I explained, but she smiled at me funny.
I also want the man whose parking spot I took to forgive me for whipping in there ahead of him. I honestly thought he was waiting on the lady with the stroller to walk by, not on that particular parking space—his blinker wasn’t on! I motioned for him to wait so I could back out, but he zoomed past before I could back out again.
Who knows? Maybe they did believe and forgive. Maybe the lady was amused because she has done the same thing before (surely I’m not the only one!), but didn’t want to show it openly, hence the crooked, tight-lipped smile. Maybe the man was just in a hurry to park SOMEWHERE because he needed to use the restroom, or maybe he was trying to be a gentleman and let me keep the spot.
Fat chance, right? But seriously, maybe they are both actually really nice people who weren’t really put out at all or had another reason for acting like they did, and I’m not feeling the love because I am too suspicious to give THEM the benefit of the doubt.
Hmmmm….mercy and grace. To give is to receive?
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