WARNING: L-o-n-g post full of lots of bitching and whining!
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I was really doing well this year with my Christmas lists, I planned so well and began preparing so far in advance that all my shopping and mailing was done 3 days before Thanksgiving! This is a monumentous feat for me. And this is the FIRST Christmas that I have ever created a gift-buying budget and really STUCK TO IT, I actually came in about $9 under!!! Woo hoo! Go me! I was really feeling proud of myself and had big plans of being able to relax and enjoy the holidays for the first time in a LONG time.
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And now I'm finding out that I'll be crapping out almost $300 in Xmas party expenses between all my English class and culture group parties!!!!!! Merry freakin' Christmas!!!!
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I knew there'd be parties, and had planned to give out small goodie bags to all my students; even at only $3 a piece that'd be close to $70, and I knew I'd have to drop $40 on gifts for my first culture group, fine, that's the price I have pay in return for a year of fun and culture in Japan. But in the last few days I've found out that this is only the tip of the iceberg!
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I learned today that one of my classes (the biggest, w/ 12 students) always receives gifts valued around $6/ea., double what I had planned, and while my students would NEVER just assume or expect anything at all, how can I not do it when that's what's been done by every teacher every year for 30 years? Then my second culture group is another $40; when I was the only member of the group I was just going to make them a bunch of homemade yummies and felt fine with that, I knew the Japanese ladies would understand and would never expect me to buy so many gifts on my own, but now that 3 other people have joined, it's "expected" (by the other American members and leaders, never the Japanese) that we'll buy gifts. The Japanese ladies won't blink at spending $40 a piece on gifts for us, how can I balk at spending $20 on them? (Because there are only 4 of us, we have to buy 2 gifts each)
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Now, back to my first culture group, at the begining of the culture year we planned the events we wanted to do, one month the Americans host an activity, the next month its the Japanese side's turn, the hosting group pays for the activity. December happens to be our month and the Japanese ladies wanted to come on base for the Seafood Buffet. Okay, it's $20 per person, that'd be $40 bucks a piece, expensive, but do-able, and they do so much for us, you feel like a complete jerk when you don't give back just as much.........fast forward to this week and we are down from 8 American members to only 3, which means 3 of us footing the bill for $160 worth of Seafood Buffet, that's about $53 each, plus the $20 for our own meal. Again, nearly double what I had planned.
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Crap, this is adding up fast!
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Then Otis decides to tell me, THE DAY BEFORE THE POST OFFICE MAILING DEADLINE, and AFTER I had finished all my Xmas shopping and mailed all my packages, that we need to buy presents for a couple of extra family members. Great. And when I'm I supposed to accomplish this? I have absolutely no time left in this week to go shopping! That means not shopping until Friday afternoon, which means going to the post office on Saturday and standing in line for HOURS, with all the other last-minute-morons, waiting to mail my packages. And the packages aren't guaranteed to arrive by Christmas! Damn it! I planned months in advance to avoid being in that group this year!!!!!!! Thanks. No, really, thanks a lot. Butthead.
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Okay, I'm done whining, time to put on my big girl panties and get on with making this Christmas the merriest ever!
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I am seriously grateful that my biggest problem this year is that I have so many wonderful people in my life to buy gifts for and celebrate with. And while I'm disappointed that all my planning went straight into the crapper, I'm glad to know that I am capable of making the plans and sticking to them, and still feeling pretty proud that the things that were in my controlled were handled on time and under budget. And I am beyond joy-filled that we have the means for me to do all this additional stuff. My list of blessings is long and I really do appreciate just how incredibly lucky I am.
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I hope everyone has wonderful holiday season!
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(Revenge is sweet. Muwahahahaha!)
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