secret santa (breaking the rules)

Ah Christmas time---fun, joy, stress, fights.  Yes it's the holidays.  And now that my kids aren't going to a Jewish Day School Secret Santa has joined the mix.  Great more crap to juggle.  When I got the memo from the teacher last week I found my stress levels rising.  Deliverables Wed, Thurs, and Friday.  Fck.  But then the first Christmas Miracle occurred and the first two deliverables were completed during school.  Friday's deliverable was a small gift, with a price tag limit of $10.

My daughter had done a great job teasing out her recipient's preferences (CIA agent maybe?), and I was given a mission to buy a fox (stuffed) and some chocolate.  Miracle number 2. I found a small stuffed fox for $8.99 at Carl's Pharmacy and bought a bag of Hersey kisses in x-mas colors for $1.99 which was pretty close to budget.  Yea.

That was Monday.  Monday night my dogs ate the bag of Hersey kisses.  A 12 OZ bag (about 72 kisses).  This raises numerous questions.  Is chocolate fatal for dogs? (not mine).  What happens to the foil? (good question so far no signs of it although I keep expecting a red, green a silver turd)  Does it cause stomach distress --i.e. you can't expect me to pick that up with a bag can you? (no problems yet).  And lastly if you buy a second bag of kisses have you broken the spending limit on secret Santa? (Good question).

So I bought a second bag, and put it on a very high counter.   This morning I was greeted with a second empty bag (no signs of foil though) and a box that used to contain 12 candy canes.  The dogs' mood was good even though their energy level seemed a bit high.  Also the 1.5 year old seems to be getting thinner while my 4.5 year old looks to have put on 3-8 lbs.  Which is kinda like humans, my kids can eat sweets all holiday long and come back thinner, I look at some pie and carbs and gain 10 lbs.  Anyhow this sent me to Roxy's grocery which is the most over priced place on the planet.  Suggest retail price of a 7 oz hershey bar is $1.99 at Roxy's its $3.99.  While there I also noticed that the price of my favorite ice cream was 110% more than at City Market in Basalt.  I am never ever going back there again.

Bottom line; I have almost doubled the secret santa budget.   Did I violate the rules?  And when will the foil make an appearance?  Will my younger dog ever gain weight (she also ate 7 ornaments)?  Will we have any ornaments left by the time Santa arrives?  Will Santa get to eat any cookies or will the dogs demolish those too?  Did I use up all my Christmas miracles?  Does a Jew get Christmas miracles?  And will we ever get any snow?

Next up ---x mas trees.