Buying Happiness & Other Coping Mechanisms

When I was feeling particularly high-stress just after the election, I went into a bit of an Advent calendar frenzy. I had been thinking, vaguely, that an Advent calendar would be a nice teensy surprise in these days that often run together, and then I found out that Aldi, which is known for their Advent calendars, would be stocking them the day after Election Day. I literally marked my calendar. I figured that while the votes were being counted, stocking up on cheese and wine would be a welcome diversion.

Sadly, Aldi does not sell the alcoholic calendars in New York (which is tragic, because the wine calendar is made to pair with the cheese calendar!), but I was able to snag two chocolates (one for M) and a cheese one. Then, when I got home, I Googled and found myself a sparkling wine Advent calendar. Then I figured that J, who took Wednesday after election day as a mental health day, could use a little perking up, and so I bought a Tea Advent calendar. Then I didn’t want Cute W to feel left out, so I got a Brain Teaser Puzzle Advent calendar.

Y’all know I’m not a shopper at all and that I’m usually way too cheap to just randomly buy things, right? Perhaps I entered some sort of state of temporary derangement

I’ve also been in mourning about not hosting a crowd for Thanksgiving, so I ended up sending my parents and siblings each a piece of Polish pottery to ease the hurt. Also: sending out donations to favorite organizations. Plus, sent a care package to M.

Speaking of coping mechanisms, I’m actually very pleased with two of our most recent KidsOutAndAbout articles:

• Expect a Surprise: 100+ Ways to Keep Kids Smiling During COVID has a ton of ideas to try to inject a little joy into daily life, and it’s just useful to have someone else come up with ideas for a change, isn’t it?
• Subscription Boxes: Gifts That Keep on Giving is another huge list, and it is just lovely to get fun stuff in the mail. I am all for drawing out the anticipation and spreading out the happiness as we hunker down and get through the winter of COVID.