Give Me 5 Monday -- #3

This week's topic: Give Me Five things about Christmas/Holiday cards: buying them, getting them ready, sending them, receiving them, displaying them, tips for recycling them, getting/sending 'family newsletters', traditions, pictures, etc.

I love getting and giving Christmas cards, so this one will be fun!

1) I try to get my cards mailed over Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm usually successful. The holiday season is so short, and I want to squeeze as much festivity out of it as I can.

2) My cards are always from a charity I support -- usually the American Humane Society. I always have a backup card to send to my Jewish friends that only mentions "holidays," not Christmas.

3) Likewise, I'm very careful about which stamps I use. Most people get the Christian religious stamp. My Jewish friends and those who I know don't believe get the wintery fun stamps. After all, the point of the cards is to connect/reconnect/and celebrate with the people who matter in our lives, not to proselytize.

4) I have more than enough holiday address labels for my cards. In fact, I have more than enough holiday address labels for the rest of my life! It seems every charity sends them to me. I still haven't used up all the ones that feature scarecrows and jack o' lanterns, and now I'm swimming in reindeers and elves!

5) I always put a personal salutation or close in each card, and I never sign in red ink. I learned both of those tidbits of card-sending etiquette from my mom.

For more about Give Me 5 Monday, or to play along yourself, click here.

Manic Monday #5

For the holidays, are you a last-minute shopper or do you shop well ahead of time? Both. I had most of my shopping done well in advance, except for my mom. I still need to pick up one last thing for her. A nice thick moisturizer for her elbows? Or that Richard Avedon coffee table book on the Kennedys? I can't decide.

If you had to pick a new first name for yourself, what name would you choose? Elizabeth, because my name could change with my mood. I could be Liz or Lizzie or Bette or Betty or Lacey or …

What's worse, having expectations that are too high, or having no expectations at all? I don't know how to have no expectations at all, so I can't even imagine what that would feel like.

This is the authentic Manic Monday. Accept no substitutes! For more information or to play along yourself, click here.

Introducing a young "hospitician"

My nephew, a second grader, announced yesterday that he does not wish to be a soldier, a firefighter nor a police officer.* He wants to help people, but not in any way that places him in danger. So he has decided to be a "hospitician."

I had to ask him to elaborate, since, as best as I could tell, he made that word up. To those of us not in the know, a "hospitician" works in a hospital and could be, but is not necessarily, a doctor. My nephew is also willing to help others by "reading xrays and charts and looking through a microscope."

*I'm impressed that he never says "fireman" or "policeman." He very naturally assumes kids of either gender can grow up to hold any job. I'm proud to be a feminist and believe this is just another everyday example of how feminism has made a positive difference. It confuses me that many women within the blogosphere hold feminists in such low regard, and value victories like the one I mention above so cheaply.