Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Here we are

Gosh... it's been almost a week since being in Cali and haven't gotten into an argument w/ my sister one time... okay, maybe a tiny little spat, but it ended quickly, so all is happy on the Jahooni and Um Naief cloud! :)

Naief is still trying to get used to the time change. He's waking up at midnight wanting to play... which last night my sister got us up, played for a while, and he slept until 8:30 this morning!!!! What a relief since he's been waking up at 4:30 and 5 in the morning every day.

We've been spending our days shopping for Christmas presents, stocking stuffers... and even a few things for myself... yeah, how could I not, especially since they're carrying Vera Wang at Kohl's now and her pajamas are to DIE FOR!!!! Oh my gosh, they are sooooo soft... your skin melts in them, believe me!

Stocking stuffers are the hardest to get... I rack my brain trying to come up w/ things to fill stockings, and buying for hubby has always been the hardest for me, but this year... with a little help from my sister, I was able to get things to fill his stocking w/out a problem!

And mentioning stockings, I COULD NOT believe the difference in sizes of the stockings between me and my sister and Hashim's was quite small comparetively speaking (and yes, we're talking about sister jealousy here! ;) ). My mother made me and Hashim stockings two years ago and sent them to us filled w/ goodies, so this year she tells me to bring them w/ me - which I did - and what did my wondering eyes see when I got here, you may ask??!!! My sister's stocking is two sizes bigger than mine!!! Yep! Even the dog's stocking is bigger than mine and hubby's !!! Oh.. and if you know me, that was a no go, so I marched in to my mother and told her right off that that would have to be fixed :)!! So yesterday my momma made me and hubby new stockings!! and now sisterpoo is complaining that mine is bigger than hers! Can you believe it!?? I can... but I laugh because it's been how many years that she's been getting gobs more stocking stuffers than me... matter of fact, there have been years that I haven't even gotten a stocking from my mom... so this is only fair, the way I see it! ;) hehehe AND... found out this morning that she actually measured the stockings last night when one of her friend's was over.... uh huh.... she can hardly stand that my stocking is as big as hers now!!


And... and all of you might figure, I miss my husband a lot. This is the first vacation I've taken w/out him and for it to be such an extended length of time, well... it makes me sad on days... but the daily shopping excursions have helped w/ that somewhat! ;) Altho, I know Hashim is not too happy to hear that! But hey.. I haven't had Christmas w/ my family... well, my sister in about 5 years and ... my mom, well, it's been about 9 or more years, so I see this year as special. Coz who knows when the next time will be that I get to spend the holidays w/ them and such an extended length of time!

My sister has a dog and it's been a difficult task in getting Naief used to him. If I sit Naief down on the floor, the dog is usually all over him... not being mean or anything, just wanting to lick him and it scares Naief a bit, so he usually cries and doesn't want to do anything but be held, which is hard for me. He's also not particularly keen on being held or watched by my mom... crying when I leave the room and when I left to get gas the other day, he went into a complete crying fit, and then when I took a shower, my mom thought she was gonna have a panic attack because of the way he started acting.... so that's been hard, to say the least. I feel like I have a siamese twin and it makes it hard to do anything... but I'm trying to see it as a good thing and know that soon enough he won't even want me to hold him... but it's hard.

Anyway... this has been our time in a quick nutshell. We have a dinner party to go to this weekend, so I'll be making a pie to take - one of my favorites - and then I'm gonna do some baking over the next several days... making some Christmas cookies, brownies and such. The nice thing about here is that they have ready-made pie shells, which is nice. Never tried them, but have heard their just as good as the real thing, so I'm gonna give 'em a whirl this time around.

Happy shopping everyone... and Happy Eid to everyone in Bahrain!

Miss you Hashim!

4 comments:

Jahooni said...

I really can't believe it... that we have gotten along so well this time but many nights of praying has helped! ;) I love you more than you know and I want more than anything to be a great sister, aunt and friend.

STOP SHOPPING FOR YOUSELF BEFORE CHRISTMAS! you buy stuff before I even get a chance to get it for you for Christmas. Maybe a lump of coal.... hymnnn?

Naief is the sweetest little boy. I just want to steal him away from you... lucky you and you're a wonderful mother. It's been so nice to see you as a mother because I never thought it would happen.

As for the dog... well.... put him outside for awhile with his toys on the side yard with water and a blanket. He'll be just fine!

Love you.

Gardens of Sand said...

You sound like you are having tons of fun, good for you! Eid Mubarak and Merry Christmas. It must be awesome celebrating xmas with family in your home country. I miss celebrating eid in Bahrain :(

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

So good to hear your holiday is going well and you certainly are into retail therapy. Take it easy and just enjoy each day. How's the weather - really cold? Do you do the Santa Claus thing in your family? Or those stockings are just stuffed up by everyone?
w.

Um Naief said...

wendy, yeah, we do santa. my niece can't wait for santa to come and rec'd a ltr from santa today in the mail as did naief. :) she was really excited, and even in bahrain, we'll continue the tradition. altho, sometimes i feel bad for it because it's always a huge letdown in the end... you know.

jahooni, i'm trying to stop shopping for myself but when you see so many good things at good prices, how can you not?!! :) but i'll stop for now... altho i do want a pair of those jeans you got! and isn't naief sweet... i just hope he relaxes and starts to be okay w/out me in the room... but... wouldn't you know it, but his uncle is actually feeding him a bottle right now and he's fine!

gardens, i agree, spending the holidays in your home country makes a difference. the stores are all decorated, playing xmas music and there's a certain vibe in the air. there are long lines, that's for sure, but all are friendly and talk during the wait, so it's nice.. especially now w/ the baby because it always gives ppl something to talk about, and i like that.