Saturday, November 22, 2008

I'm Dreaming of a Cuisinart Christmas

I know it may seem strange for a Jew to be speaking about Christmas shopping, but when BlogHer gave me the chance to go on a $300 shopping spree at JCPenney I donned my figurative Santa hat and took to the JCPenney website to create my wish list. After all, I love Christmas music. I love Christmas trees and Christmas sparkle lights. What's not to love about Christmas shopping?

We don't really have a holiday where you buy gifts for everyone (Chanukkah has been Christmas-ized in the United States--it's not really a gift giving holiday per se). Sure, I have to get gifts for the twins on Purim and we buy birthday presents and "just because" presents, but I've always felt like I dodged a bullet by not having that Christmas gift scramble headache. What if you couldn't come up with something good? But once I got into the spirit of things, I found that it was intoxicating to think about everyone opening up these random gifts. I loved the idea of seeing their faces when they received their box.

I started with my brother because he was easy. His roommate recently moved out and he had sent out a Clarion call for kitchen equipment. He ended up with the 11 piece Kitchaid set which comes with a very cool ladle that I may steal from him because it has a pour spout.

I then moved onto the twins because toys seemed like a sure bet. They received the KidKraft Cake Set and the Public Garage. Josh has been pining away for a mandolin. I bought myself a pair of shoes and a new robe. And we still have money leftover for my sister, niece, more toys for the twins and a pasta attachment for me.

I have to admit that there is something appealing about doing all of your shopping in one spot--with one exchange of the credit card number and one company shipping all of your packages. I hung out in the store one afternoon grabbing myself a free massage from the massage chair (oh how I covet one of those) and examining a donut-making machine. I fell in love with new plates and perused all of the kitchen gadgets. Seeing everything in front of me jogged my memory and suddenly I thought of 20 more things we "needed."

So, in addition to the Christmas music and candy canes, I guess we are sort of celebrating Christmas this year. Thank you BlogHer!

By the way, you too can win a $300 shopping spree at JCPenney and get all those cool Cuisinart attachments you've always longed to have. BlogHer is giving away one shopping spree a week for 5 weeks. So enter and then tell me what you buy if you win.

Okay, field trip over--come back to school.