The holiday season through Google searches

This is my brain on Christmas.

Early December

• Where to get live Christmas tree Austin
• Whole Foods Christmas tree sale 2019
• How to decorate plain wreath
• Blue mailbox locations
• Croup age range
• North Austin pediatricians 
• Klaus good for kids 
• Christmas lights song preschool 

Mid-December

• Where to stream Polar Express
• Grinch 2018 IMDb
• Santa trail of lights real beard
• Batiste dry shampoo  
• Reindeer food
• Ginger for baking

Christmas week

• Pictures of strep throat 
• Small white bumps tonsils kids
• Best funny movies
• Early HFM symptoms
• Wild Kratts live review 
• Rash amoxicillin
• Urgent care Austin 
• Cough ear infection
• Personalized Santa video 
• Experience gifts for kids
• What to feed caga tio 
• How much should 11-month-old nurse
• How to get rid of Christmas tree Austin 

Last-minute stocking stuffer ideas

For the toddler:

• Gift tags so he can re-tag all the presents as his. He’s going to open them all anyway and yell “Mine,” so capitalize on it. 
• Enough candy to bribe your way through Christmas morning tantrums.
• A hundred tiny crappy dollar store toys that the toddler will love leaving on the floor and you’ll have to pry out of the babies hands and mouth until 2020 when you give up and throw them all away.

For the baby:

• Let the toddler fill the baby’s stocking. Any trash, cast-off toys and choking hazards that come from the big sibling are the only thing that will make her happy.
• Cheerios. Just dump the box in there. Any that spill will just join the layer of them already coating the floor. 
• Saline spray because the snot never ends, not even on Christmas.

For dad:

• Anything that's also for you: chocolate, coffee, jewelry
• Anything from your grocery list: toilet paper, mac and cheese, kids vitamins
• Gas X
• No grooming products or he'll continue to age better than you.

For mom:

• Wrinkle cream
• Depuffing gel
• Dry shampoo
• A to-do list for Christmas morning so she doesn’t forget all the balls she has in the air while the rest of the house enjoys the magic she created.

Merry Christmas presents!

This Christmas was one of the better ones in recent years because of one important addition to the equation: Jonas! But I don't feel like uploading photos/videos just yet, so I'll just brag about a few of my many awesome Christmas gifts.

First of all, I got a ukulele from a very smart guy and I can't wait to master it. I suppose that means I have to practice, so we'll see how that goes.

I also got this awesome pillow case and a calendar from Leah Duncan's etsy shop. She's an Austin-based designer and basically all her stuff is perfect.

And I now need to frame this Pop Chart Lab print for my kitchen...and maybe buy a few more kitchen utensils.

Other gifts: this ring holder, this necklace, a new phone, an electric hand mixer (no more sore stirring arms!), a ski jacket and time with family!

She & Him Christmas album

OK, I've held out as long as I could. It's time for Christmas music. I think I did pretty good. I almost made it to Halloween.

If She & Him (the Zooey Deschanel/M. Ward band that makes perfect shower-singing music) hadn't come out with a holiday album, I might've been able to go a little longer without. But whatever. I bought this album and it's officially Christmas season for me, despite what all you Halloweeners and Thanksgiving turkeys say.

Merry Christmas, all

Get any good gifts? I got the Kelly Moore bag I've had my eye on for a while now. I'm so excited to take it to the Hague (and I'm thinking of how to keep it from getting snatched while on public transportation).

My crafty sister crocheted me a headband/earwarmer kind of like this one. And we all got some leather-bound books from my brother, his founding contribution to the Poller library.

Now all I have to do before I leave in 12 days is move out of my apartment in Waco, watch the Bears beat Illinois in the Texas Bowl, unpack the boxes I've moved from Waco in order to pack what I need for the next 3 months (in 1 or 2 suitcases, no less), figure out how to live in Europe and say my goodbyes. It doesn't sound like as much work as I think it's going to be.

Also, I found out that I'm 1/8 Dutch (passed on from my great-grandfather Poller), so my chances of fitting in over there just got 12.5% better.