Sitting here on my table, in my little room of my own, are two Cd’s. They contain the concert that we took The Boy to a few weeks ago, that Dylan one that didn’t impress me very much. But there they are, there it is, there is the concert that we went to.

I’ve always been fascinated by music and the Internet, perhaps because I know so little about both. I have tried very many times to track down ‘tunes’ and have failed very many times – things were just too complicated or what ever. But now I have succeeded. I’m quite proud of myself.

My download times for a torrent file were very painful. This means that I must do …’something’ to the ‘ports’ of my firewall. This shall keep me busy and miserable for a short time. Or perhaps a longer period time.

But still, isn’t it just magic ? By sitting behind a bunch of machinery, doing this , that and the other thing, I have a recording- in my hands- of that Dylan concert.

The perfect gift for The Boy.

Magic.

At the peak of his recent oh-woe-is-me,-I’m-the-loneliest-boy-in-the-world episode, The Boy by-the-wayed me during dinner : ‘ By the way,’ he said ‘ I’m going steady’. ‘You are going steady ? With whom ?’ ‘With Kristal.’ ‘ Oh, that’s nice. Did you ask her ?’ ‘Nope. She asked me’. ‘I thought you said that nobody liked you?’.

Since then, I ask him every so often how things are going between the two of them. I made a point of not smiling the other day when he commented to me that since they had started going steady, she hadn’t said a word to him. ‘ Maybe,’ I suggested, ‘ she is just shy now,Boy, like you are when you are around Talitha’.

Last night,The Boy showed me a tiny, tightly wrapped parcel. It was something for Kristal, he told me, a tiny yellow crystal from his rock collection.

This morning on the way to school, he explained to me that in Dutch, a crystal is just like ‘Kristal’.

‘Awe…’ I thought to myself , ‘ How sweet! ‘

Don’t mothers simply dote upon their sons ?

I love Christmas. While I don’t really like receiving gifts myself, I love the whole hoopla surrounding the holiday- the tree, Elvis singing ‘Blue Christmas’, you name it.

Because Christmas and Christmas Eve follow December 5th so closely, most of the gifts under our tree are those fluff sort of gifts, you know, socks, new mittens, coloring pens. But even the children agree : they want a lot of sparkling presents under the tree, and so, even if the temperatures here go below zero tomorrow, our children will not be getting any gloves, scarves or hats until Christmas Eve. That’s how it is done here. This was voted on.

This year, we will be sharing our Christmas Eve with 5 other people : 4 adults and The Father’s little Italian godson, who is a little over a year old. Now, we can’t just sit and open a mound full of gifts- fluffy, filler gifts that they are- without having something under the tree for them as well. However, if I go out and spend a ton of money on gifts ( except for the wee godson, of course), that will embarrass people. And so I’m left with getting together the thoughtful, cheap, eats-up-every-minute-of-the-day sort of gift.

Take -for example- the torrent file which I am still- days later- trying to download ( it is roughly the size of Milwaukee). It will simply make the perfect gift for my brother-in-law and for The Boy, especially for The Boy, as it is the full concert that we took him to of Dylan’s a short while ago. Fancy that.

And the socks- we all get socks for Christmas. Today, rummaging through the ‘we are for sale’ bin at V&D, I found 2 very nice, gold threaded pairs of ladies socks for a bit over a euro. So, we have socks for the ladies coming, just took awhile to find them.

Yes, today was spent in the big city, once again, getting the must-haves for the holidays. The Girl and The Boy both needed gifts for school that cost under 3 euro. It took a while, but I managed to find two nice gifts in that price range. The remaining hours alone were spent wrapping gifts.

Now that the school gifts are bought, it’s time make the ‘container’ for them. The Girl wants to make a copy of Sleeping Beauty’s castle and The Boy and I need to put our heads together and come up with something clever for the ’surprise’ that he has to make.

Oh yes, and before Saturday, I have to put together three little paper ‘jeeps’. The children will leave these at the local grocery store, and after December 5th, they can stop by to see if the Sint left something for them in their little ‘jeep’.

Now, where did I leave the glue and the stapler ?

Just a few weeks ago, I was wallowing in time. I had it by the bushful. Now…I don’t know where it goes. I suppose it is the holidays, trying to arrange the Dutch version and the American version thereof. Or perhaps the work-work. Or Opa’s tapes ( they are really bad, by the way). Or upgrading our menu so that we actually use all 6 burners and two ovens.

Of course, it could very simply be age, one never knows. But it is 9.30 and I’m going to read a bit and go to sleep.

I am beat.

Keeping in the music mode, I have been trying to download a torrent file.

For the last two days.

I am beginning to think that this is simply not going to work.

I was never allowed to touch my parent’s reel-to-reel.

How does one make it work ?

I’m not supposed to put music up. I know that. But still… sometimes I would just like to share Dutch things, and let’s face it- it’s hard to find Dutch music, either to listen to or to buy. Good or bad, whatever. This is something that The Father’s Dad and I could both sit through. Doesn’t mean it’s our first choice, but still… it was a big hit here, and while I suspect the lyrics contain most of it’s charm- there it is, a big Dutch hit. Digestible by all, to certain degrees.

Well, I have set up the software for the big conversion of Opa’s reel-to-reel tapes into CD’s, have read through the instruction booklet carefully and now it is just up to The Father to connect his old Akai up to my computer.

This is indeed the perfect gift for Opa. Over the years, I have heard him refer wistfully to the music that he has on these tapes, music that you just don’t hear anymore.

As I was going over an introductory video that came with the software, I suddenly realized that this project meant that I would be spending hours and hours of time, listening to Opa’s music. You know how your parent’s taste in music always seems dorky, lame almost to the point of embarrassment ? I’m going to have to listen to reels and reels of dorky, lame music that I have never even heard before. In Dutch. Antique BZN. I’m sure that there is a very good reason that one doesn’t hear this sort of music anymore.

In the proper mood, I can find music that both Opa and I like, tolerate perhaps is a better word. ( Although, I must admit, whenever I hear this, all I can think of is Daphne with her big, Bambi eyes…)

But I fear for the worst here.

You know, those ‘thoughtful’, inexpensive, simply perfect Christmas gifts ? Well, there is a catch to them : they take a cootie’s age to arrange.

Today I have begun working on one of these ‘the perfect gift’ : my mission ? To convert Opa’s old reel-to-reel tapes into CD’s. I have all of the software and cables necessary for this right here, spread out on the table in my little room of my own.

Have I ever done this before ?

Ha-ha-ha-ha….