Metal Meredith

Like I have mentioned before, I am on a message board with 50 other women. We became friends on one of those public baby sites where all of our kids were born in June of 2003. After all hell broke loose, we decided to take our little circle of people and go private.

Every year for the past four, we have done a swap during the holiday season. We do not allow gifts for the kids, because we figure kids get enough crap. We just do one for each other. This year is no different.

I enjoy setting these things up. I like the work of hashing out a plan, setting up a time line and instructions and making it all happen. Sometimes without errors, most of the time with a few, it call comes together and I get to enjoy the Thank You posts on the board with photos of what people have received.

I am selfish in the fact that I like who people swap with to be a secret. I like to buy for one person and receive from another. It is always more fun to not know who might be shopping with you in mind. To get that present on the doorstep and have no idea what might be inside is pretty cool. I have also been lucky enough to swap with my friend in New Zealand two times now. Nothing is more fun than getting items that can’t be found at my local Target. I love to buy local for gifts that are being sent away.

This post really has no other function than to show you what a freak I am when it comes to organizing this thing. Everyone thanks me and says it is ‘such a big job’, but I just love it. I have a system that changes yearly. Allowing myself to become completely focused on creating an even exchange list lets me get away from the every day life that is my family and house.

I believe that I have a sickness. I have always enjoyed ‘busy work’ and puzzles. This is just the best of those worlds, combined. Perhaps I have a future in party planning or corporate contact organization.