help! I need some ideas

[RainDog]

I am sorting through about 150 boxes of books that have filled up a room... I est. this is at least 4000 books, mostly hardbacks, probably more, but whatever - don't ask, or do. So I have books and boxes all over the place that I need to deal with b/c I am going to move in the spring and this is too big of a task to leave till then. I have some time now to do it.

my sons have been with their dad, for the most part, over the last week so I've had space to deal with this. however, I haven't gotten out any christmas decorations or put up a tree or anything else. and I really don't care about doing this because dealing with these books is an important thing and this time of year I get a few days of free time to try to sort things out. since my kids (who are both teenagers, btw) have had holiday stuff with their dad, and since they're not young, I don't feel too badly about being a grinch, except that I do.

however, I have no desire to decorate or make food or cookies or anything of the sort. I havent' gone shopping. (tho I do have some presents.) I hope bill o'reilly hasn't permanently ruined xmas for me. :/ I'm fine... I could care less in many ways about holidays for the moment anyway.

but I need want some ideas for things to do so that my kids don't get to blame me for that crappy christmas that ruined their lives.... something that can make this holiday special even tho it's not sop for christmas.

I could take them to a hotel or something for christmas eve/day, but I think they'd be happier among the mess. then agan, I don't think they usually go swimming on christmas eve. but I also cannot spend much $ on this. I suppose I could order one of those holiday dinner set ups from a store (like tgiving). anyone ever done that?

ideas, please? you guys are full of them, so a little help?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. why don't you as a family help out in at a homeless shelter ...it always makes for a blessed holiday

wishing you and yours a blessed holiday.

[RainDog]

2. because my house looks like it was demolished

by a truck of books.

I don't mean to sound or be mean, but I already have waaaay to much to deal with right now. I'm thinking more along the lines of... I need to deal with this but I can't ignore christmas (even tho I happily would this year). the problem is that I have too much to do already, so going to a shelter doesn't really work for me at this time.

I know I should be more beneficient at this time of year, but I really have to take care of some major things myself, on my own. I guess I don't feel like I have a lot of energy for holiday things at all.

[CBHagman]

13. It's the other 364 days, though...

I hear that the holidays are not the problem for soup kitchens and homeless shelters. It's the rest of the time, when people forget about the needs of food banks and so forth.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

15. true and that is why we volunteer once a month to help at the city rescue mission

and fund raise weekly for the shelters needs....my 15 year daughter collects new hats, gloves and socks at her school.

I wish we could do more....it is so sad. I wish I could bring them all home with me.

[flvegan]

3. They're both teenagers, yes?

I can only speak for myself, and you know your kids best, but...when I was that age, I'd have been happy without decorations and "Christmas-y" stuff and been good with a couple gifts and some rented movies (or a trip to the movies) or video games and a big pizza for entertainment.

I'm also a major bah humbug, so...

[Omphaloskepsis]

5. And what he said...

[RainDog]

6. do ppl deliver pizza on christmas day?

I thought I'd take them to a movie - maybe on christmas eve. they're getting presents at their dad's house, so I thought they could play with them here.

am I the only one, I wonder? I really cannot muster any desire to celebrate christmas this year. aren't there some times that are like that for people?

[hippywife]

16. I'm totally dodging it this year.

Except where I absiolutely can't. So I can sympathize. Your idea sounded like a fun get away. How about getting a room at a reasonable hotel with a pool and having junk food and renting movies. They can play with their new gifts there just as well.

[RainDog]

18. glad to see a fellow just-say-no-eler

or just don't say noel-er?

it's not just this time of year. I want to simplify, simplify. but lots of books isnt' complicated - unless it's just tooooo much. too many to see them is too many for me.

the other big deal is a quilt someone gave me that I did not want, tried to refuse over and over and over and finally just took it to stop discussing it but I want to give it back, still... this is a quilt that was from someone's family! I suggested this person give the quilt to one of his sibs but he insists that I keep it. this is sort of creepy in its own way. it's like he's trying to make me obligated to him or something.

what do you do with a valuable old quilt that you shouldn't have/didn't want to have in the first place???

[hippywife]

19. Sounds a little creepy to me, too.

At some point in that kind of exchange you have to put your foot down and start screaming like a banshee. You usually end up winning that way. :rofl:

[RainDog]

20. well...

....I have told this person that it is obnoxious to refuse to take back something that I NEVER WANTED IN THE FIRST PLACE! and said so, but nicely.

the problem, I've been told, is that I'm not "east coast" enough, whatever that means. I won't try to define that since I will no doubt offend people in several states (or maybe not, if they're really "east coast?") LOL. but I think it has something to do with being able to tell people places they should visit, things like that...

[hippywife]

21. Beats me, too, but

I'm finding I'm way to northern to be living in Oklahoma.

Really, I would wrap that quilt up very nicely and securely and leave it in a safe place around his home while he isn't around, with a note that says something like, "While this was a nice gesture, I won't accept something that should stay in your family. Please, please stop!"

[RainDog]

23. it's safe

I have it in a box in a closet. I don't want to drop it off because then it will be a subject of contention again. tho I have told this person that I am leaving town and if he won't take it back I might send it to his brother. but I don't want to get involved in some big deal.

Believe me, I can be the queen of fuck you - it's not like I'm nice or anything. LOL.

argh. I was also supposed to go visit some friends overseas for new years and I can't get that together either. only had to pay for airfare. I am hiding out online and in a room full of books. People are wondering if I've fallen off the face of the earth. the answer is yes.

the good news is that someone I haven't talked to for a while contacted me and I dropped off a music mix for christmas (sort of like the one I posted here that absolutely no one cared about because it was sort of... ambilvalent about the holidays.) anyway, she said she's going to play it on the radio on Christmas day! William Burroughs bitching about humans! LOL. Tom Waits singing about a hooker in Minn... I'll find out when she's working and you can hear it if have iTunes radio. (this is an "alternative" free form station, obviously.)

[hippywife]

24. Sounds like we might have the same taste

in music. Can you repost the link to that thread here. I don't hang out here a whole lot so I must have missed it. I don't have iTunes. I do listen to a few alternate internet music outlets that play mostly roots/Americana, etc.

[RainDog]

28. okay, but...

iTunes wouldn't let me post the original mix - which I was doing to send to a friend as a joke -

I'll send you a copy if you pm me with your address...for educational purposes only, of course. won't get there before xmas, of course. :)

A few of the songs are on YouTube - burroughs' version of What Keeps Mankind Alive from Sept. Songs, Jill Sobule doing Merry Christmas from the Family. John Prine's Christmas in Prison as a cover by Amos Lee (who has been opening for Elvis Costello and Dylan)

do you think I might be procrastinating right now?

[grasswire]

22. sell the quilt to pay for the Xmas

You can have a better Xmas if you know you're going to sell that quilt. List it on eBay, and you'll have the money in a week.

Come on over to the DU topic area for eBay and antiques, and we'll help you appraise it.

As far as Xmas goes, I suggest going out for Chinese food or Mexican and then seeing the most bizarre movie you can find open. Something out of the ordinary that they will remember. Then you could go home and make big fat ice cream sundaes -- get some good toppings and a can of that squirty whipped cream. Buy a box of Christmas cookies, and make some punch. Teens LOVE punch. All you need is a bottle of ginger ale and some pineapple or lime sherbet to make punch. Slice an orange into it, and it's instantly festive. Tell lots of old stories about them, and telephone some relatives to say Merry Christmas.

Try to stay away from the usual. Live it up a little! Laugh and be happy.

[RainDog]

26. I can't sell it!!!!!

It's not mine!!!!!!

it was from someone's mother who is now dead - she didn't make it, but it was hers. That's what's so uncomfortable about it. and it is crazy to sit here and read these words that someone will not take this back, but it's the truth. it is even weirder when I read it. the rationale was that it was his and he could so what he wanted with it. but I can't accept such a gift. I'm just keeping it safe for now.

I do have a 2nd edition of the original Peterson's Bird Book, for anyone interested. it has a diff illustration than other eds. Or how about a late 1700s edition of Maria Edgeworth's Moral Tales? or how about some mother-of-pearl opera glasses from berlin, late 1800s, in their original leather case? actually, I know the value of those, for me. maybe you know someone whose life wouldn't be the same without them?

but thank you for the good thoughts.

I'm about to make myself go to the store. soon. sometime soon. really. no, really.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. Go out for Pizza and a movie..

I have been a teenage boy. Trust me, they aren't looking forward to any of the family crap that goes on. They want gifts, but that is about it.

[RainDog]

7. my kids are weird

they like to be with me. they (or one of them) likes to help me cook and make traditional food for christmas. that's the thing I'm most worried about.

[flvegan]

14. Since they enjoy spending time with you and helping

Is it possible that you could do the food shopping and put them "in charge" of the big Christmas meal? Might be fun and fulfilling for them, PLUS it's something taken off your shoulders.

Maybe they'd like to help with whatever it is you're doing with all those books?

[RainDog]

17. could work for one

my son w/ aspergers is very limited in foods he wants to eat - tho he likes to eat some things that make me barf - he'd love the pizza thing. I have some tilapia in my freezer and I was thinking... making I could make blackened tilapia for christmas.. fast, easy, my son who eats something other than pizza loves it... he could help with that. not quite the same thing as a few courses or stuff you only make at certain times of the year.

they are helping with books... they come by and carry stuff down to my garage when I call and ask. they know this book thing was coming. they dread it more than I do.

BUT I'm going to have the biggest blow out garage book sale in my city. (just taking another break here... )

actually, it's fun to see some of the weird stuff I have in those boxes. it's been years since I looked at some of them (and, yes, yes, yes, I've made it to the back of the room, at least a path. I think I might offer some books here in the mktplace b/c DUers might be interested in them - political books. I tried to corner the mkt in my town in books that dealt with BCCI - I have multiples copies of books that deal with this.

anyway, the books were supposed to be an option if I needed it to stay here. a new/used store. plus, I love illustrated kid books. I'll still have too many books after I do this. I'm in round one- the stuff I'm simply going to get rid of.

[KitchenWitch]

8. Plan for a "Christmas in February" dinner

So you can do the traditional family dinner thing that you do not appear to have the time or inclination to do now.

Maybe play Monopoly or something, get a few inexpensive gifts, and watch some DVDs.

[RainDog]

9. nice. christmas in feb.

thanks for that one. (can do for any holiday you just can't handle at the moment! - LOL)

I'll have to make myself go to the grocery to make sure we have milk, etc. so I'll also get their favorite holiday thing - sparkling white grape juice. we make toasts in champagne flutes. I think I'll sneak some of the real stuff for myself...

[KitchenWitch]

10. Sorry if I am misunderstanding.

I am not sure if you are being sincere or sarcastic.

Your kids (teenagers) are old enough to understand delayed gratification. Thus the "Christmas in February" thing.

:D

[RainDog]

11. completely sincere!

I meant it. when I'm sarcastic, I try to make that very clear. I like the idea!!!!!

believe me, I'm too d'oh sometimes to be too sarcastic. like the other day, I thought someone was honestly asking what "pie" meant in relation to females and answered sincerely and then realized I was the only one who didn't know it was a joke. :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush:

[KitchenWitch]

12. Cool.

I have not had my morning cuppa coffee yet, and so my judgment is a bit wonky this morning (~8 PST, here)

[Tektonik]

25. get the work done fast then celebrate an Orthodox Christmas

which takes place Jan. 7th

:P

[RainDog]

29. three kings day

we've celebrated that too... and Sint Nikolas Dag on Dec. 6. 5?

[RetroLounge]

27. Check Your PM

Finally got to your questions... :D

:hi:

RL

[RainDog]

30. thanks.

I know I asked too many. :/

[RetroLounge]

31. Not at all

Glad to help.

Let me know if you need more info...

RL

[TexasBushwhacker]

32. I've ordered a holiday meal before.

It was great for the turkey, but I think everyone always has special side dishes that they like. You could order one of the smaller dinner packages and then your sons could make some yummy side dishes and desserts.

Just a thought, since your sons are in their teens, depending on your budget, maybe a nice gift or two for each of them and then give them a "charity budget" where you provide the money, but they get to choose the charity it goes to. That way they can help end hunger, save the planet or help animals. There are so many good causes out there, and since the economy sucks, charitible giving is way down.

[RainDog]

33. thanks for the info

I STILL haven't gone to the store, so I'll check it out (have gone through about ten more boxes of books, tho.) oh, and I forgot to mention the fifty or so boxes of books in my basement. still have to do those too.

I've called my kids and said, hey, let's have a weird christmas! and sang "I'll have a weird Christmas...wi--ith you..." they're okay with it so far.

I've found some non-book stuff now too. don't ask me where I got a simpson's pinball game... oh, and a tickle-me-elmo that I have to give to one son b/c he thinks that whole event was the height of human stupidity and makes fun of it all the time (and he never got one...sniffle, sniffle.) he'll laugh.