Disclaimer #2: This is a really long post. I completely understand if you decide not to stick around to the end. I won't hold it against you. Just be sure to come back tomorrow.
OK, so now that that's clear, I have been debating new stockings for a couple of years now. Well, I guess since Brennan's first Christmas when it became clear that the stocking we had were not at all acceptable.
Here's the best picture I could find of our old stockings. (Yeah, you see how Elmo is kind of hemorrhaging out the top there. And the other stuff on the table had no hope of fitting in there at all.)
Were they pretty? Yes.
Were they able to hold more than a couple of candy canes and a few pairs of underwear? No.
Wondering about the underwear? St. Nick brings us all new underwear every year. He found that in order to get said underwear in our old stockings he had to take them out of the package. Now imagine sitting around unpacking your stocking full of goodies, and having stray pairs of underwear tossed out everywhere. Makes for interesting holiday photos, don't you think?
It also leads to things like this happening.
Yep, definitely time for new stockings.
So in the time I've had to pick new stockings, I narrowed the criteria down to something that would last forever, something that looked hand-crafted, and I wanted them each personalized. When we were growing up Mom had the cutest stockings for each of us. I love the memories I have of those stockings, and I want to create the same memories for Brennan. With all that in mind, I finally decided that the Pottery Barn Kids line of stockings was perfect.
Photo from Pottery Barn Kids
Adorable, Right? So now I had to decide which adorable stocking to get for each person. Something that I thought was going to be easy, turned into a morning long debate with myself. These are lifetime memories we're making here people!
I even enlisted Brennan's help, which went something like this.
Me: "Brennan, look at these pictures. Which one is your favorite?"
Brennan: Fav-a-fav-a-reet? MORE!! (As in let's look at more pictures.)
Me: "Do you like the train?"
Brennan: "Like train. Choo-choo-whoo-whoo!"
Me: "Do you like the puppy?
Brennan: "Like puppy. Woof woof! Nanny and Poo-paw, a-compuk-a-puter? Puppy, too?" (He was asking to Skype with Nana and Papaw and their dog, Dolcha, on the computer.)
Obviously, Brennan was no help picking out his own stocking.
The pondering continued, and I kept coming back to this thought. What if we have another baby? I would of course want their stocking to match the rest of ours. (You had no idea the stocking debate was going to get this deep!) There was no way I was going to buy extra stockings for a hypothetical kid as I read some of the people that wrote the reviews did, sooo....after folding up some laundry and vacuuming the floor I decided to Google "Pottery Barn Kids Stocking 2009," just to see how different the designs are every year.
And I found that the designs are similiar enough that it would be no big deal. And as a bonus, I found that my very favorite thrifty place, eBay, had listings for PBK stockings. Oh yeah! You know I jumped right onto eBay and did a stocking search!
I hit the jackpot!
Though now I was hit with the dilemma of the personalization. Was it cheaper to buy from PBK and have them do the personalization or was it cheaper to buy on eBay and go have the personalization done in town. Was trying to find a good place in town worth the hassle? But then the light bulb went off as I was looking at an ice skater stocking with the name Jenny across the top and thinking who would want a stocking with the name Jenny already on it? Well duh, a Jenny, of course. So I added my name to my search, and tada, a reindeer and a ballerina stocking came up. Yes!
Photo from Pottery Barn Kids
I chose the reindeer. Even with shipping I was saving $10, so yeah, that was coming to my house. Next I tried Jason's name. A nutcracker, a snowman, and a train! Yeah baby! It was like I was playing slots at the casino, except I was winning!!
Photo from Pottery Barn Kids
I decided on the snowman for Jason. I saved $5 on that one. Now on to Brennan. I didn't think his name would be as easy to find as the 70's kid's, but I kept my fingers crossed. Nope. No Brennan. But that's ok. I took the $15 I saved and went on over to Pottery Barn Kids and bought him...
Photo from Pottery Barn Kids
...the train! I'm sure he will love it! I kind of thought the "choo-choo-whoo-whoo" from earlier might have meant that one was his fav-a-fav-a-reet.
You would think that would be the end of it right? I'd get the stockings in the mail, and then you would see a pretty picture of them hanging on the mantle come December. I wish.
So when Jason gets home from work, I told him of my exciting shopping adventure. He says, "You got me a snowman? I'll have to see it." In my mind I am screaming, "Oh no, you've got to be kidding me," (or maybe I actually said that out loud.) After a discussion of iconic Christmas figures, and
Well, OK, if you say it like that.
Of course, I ordered him the Santa stocking. There's no way I was going to have him keep the snowman. Every time I looked at it I would feel like the Grinch. As soon as it comes in, that baby will be relisted on eBay. I'm sure there is a Jason out there that really wants a snowman stocking.
So again, you would think that would be the end of it, right?
Nope, not a chance.
So morning comes around and I have an email with the title "Your paypal payment has been refunded." My first thought was, "Yes, they couldn't find that stinkin' snowman!" But, my hopes were quickly dashed. The email actually said this:
"Message from merchant: Hi, I am so sorry, but I just can not find the Heather stocking. I just don't know what happened to it! I am giving you a full refund. again sorry."
Really?
Really?
How difficult should buying three Christmas stocking be? So off to the Pottery Barn Kids website I go again. (I should really get a frequent shopper discount.)
So you would like after looking at the pictures approximately 7,287 times, plus already having purchased a reindeer from eBay, that my choice would be easy. Just get the reindeer, right? Nope. After the fiasco, I decided that me and that reindeer stocking just weren't meant to be.
Instead, I got a snowman. Yep, me and Frosty, and that's my final answer.
I hope.
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