Christmas Lists in the Twenty-First Century - On the Internet

The alarm on my phone woke me just as the morning light was beginning to filter through the blinds. I kept my eyes closed, waiting for the sound to stop so I could sleep another thirty minutes. My groggy, morning self bemoaned my industrious evening self for setting the alarm so early and putting it in the kitchen so I had to walk the length of the house to turn it off. Curled up in my covers with my head buried in my pillow, I was grateful that at least I had the sound set to the pleasant melody of 'Marimba' rather than the blaring honk of 'Alarm.' Finally, I opened one eye to peek at Hubby's clock-radio. Six minutes and it was still going, and I knew that even if it stopped at that moment, I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. So I trudged to the kitchen, turned it off, and glanced out the window where I was treated to an almost magical sunrise through the mist rising from the ground.

Funny how I can have my morning tasks lined up in my mind before I go to bed, but the next morning I can't think of anything I need to do. Last night I decluttered and cleaned the foyer and coat closet. Today, I worked on the family room, but I knew it wasn't the first thing I intended to do this morning. Then I remembered. I was going to write a blog post. If I had a subject in mind last night, it has completely escaped me now. So I'll tell you about our Christmas lists.

Last Christmas, we decided to draw names for this year. Having never done this before, we drew names and kept them secret from each other. We've found that it is so easy to buy for each other when we've exchanged Amazon wish lists, or sent links to our wish list items in an email. I knew it would harder for my mother-in-law because she doesn't have a computer, but Hubby could walk her through it with his ipad. The kids much prefer buying online than in stores, and my mother buys online quite often, so we were all set. Well, except that we all tend to procrastinate about getting our lists done.

Yesterday, I received a letter from my mother. Since my birthday is coming up, I thought it might be a card or letter. But this is what was inside:

On pages where the website isn't printed at the bottom, she's written it in.

I'm reminded of that Esurance commercial where the lady taped her vacation photos to her living room wall to share them with all her friends and when her friend disagreed, she said, "I unfriend you."

The first time I saw that commercial, I thought to myself that, while funny, no one would do that. But then again.....

"That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works."