Holiday Gifts

I have plenty of New Year’s resolutions and I am excited about most of them. But I have also had a New Year’s revelation. I am greeting 2006 as a free woman. I was feeling rather blue about it all when I awoke yesterday morning. But, thanks to a couple of friends, my attitude has been adjusted. I received a late, but perfectly timed Christmas gift from Maeve. A gift certificate to It’s a Wrap What a great surprise! It’s one of my favorite places to shop in Los Angeles. The note attached said “go and get yourself something girlie to pose in”. I find that I am excited again about planning my trip to Los Angeles, because this trip is going to be all about me.

Yet there is so much that I despise about the televised ad campaigns depicting youthful upper middle-class people surprising their loved ones with a red bow-topped luxury car in the driveway on Christmas morn. Every year, my angst grows toward these commercials. And today the Washington Times reports how real people participate in the luxury-car-Christmas-gift-buying trend:

Now Petsmart, to the best of my knowledge, does not carry snakes, but they do carry lizards. On a good day I can usually handle certain types of lizards, not that I know what type they are cause I sure can't look through a book and pick them out without panicking and crying, but I have seen a few that I have deemed as being "not the end of the world so long as they stay in their cage and I do not have to be close to them". Unfortunately, Petsmart did not have NtEotWsLaTSiTCaIDNHtbCtT lizards, they had some freakish looking things with long, ugly tails that made me panic, but not cry. (We refer to these as MMPbNC lizards.) Due to the presence of the MMPbNC lizards, I was unable to buy Buster! some Christmas gifts on my own and instead I had Janers do this for me. While I was shaking at the front of the store and waiting for her to return, I realized that I had become the pet owner I despised--the type who buys their animal Christmas gift as if the thing has any conception of what Christmas is or would care if it did not get gifts.

The first is permanency. I ran into this problem when picking out a wedding gift for my friend Megan earlier this year. We've known each other since we were 12, and I wanted to give her something she and her husband would always have, would remember where it came from, and would actually use. I grew up in a house with a mother who knows the story behind every piece of crystal and china and interesting bowl and who has been kind enough to pass a lot of them down to me, and I wanted Megan to have a little bit of that. But the trouble is finding something both gorgeous enough to keep that long and useful enough to have out. I found something -- an Irish wedding cup -- that didn't score high on the useful factor but topped the charts on the meaningful scale.

Every year, Hanukkah is a carefully choreographed event that M and I sit and agonize over to be sure that each night has a kind of THEME and that each night is covered with adequate giftage. But THIS year…we didn’t sit down and do that. Part of it is because she bought him this very computer I am typing on. And you have to admit, that’s a pretty decent gift if I do say so.

Hi all! I gotta report on how the 7th and 8th grade “community service” club I am advising is doing. So far this year, we have volunteer face-painted at a fall festival and helped to decorate a “giving” tree at my school where staff by items for families within our school in need. Also, my kids are really interested in helping animals so we are raising money for the local animal shelter by raffling off gift baskets- a cat theme, dog theme and (TONS) of candy baskets. We started off with our tickets at $1 each and haven’t gotten many people buying tickets. SO, the kids voted earlier this week to lower the price by half (which entailed them tracking down everyone who’d already bought tickets- but they did!) and guess what- we are rolling in the $$! I was a little worried there at first when they wanted to lower it, but hey they made the decision and they have sold every single ticket! They have been selling all the last week and the selling continues into next week! Teachers are putting in like $10 at a time for a chance to win!

Before that, I purchased the greeting cards I would need to mail out to the bussers on the 50 page list I received via e-mail. I am very excited about the idea of mailing out cards to so many people — I’ll be delivering a mass smile, hopefully, to everyone who receives a card.

I collect them early in a morning - taking the heads of full blown roses just before they’ go over’ - and make these pretty little pinkish beads that I string with pearls and rose buds to make a keepsake. So Roses collected in 2005 have been bought by people for this years weddings, new arrivals and anniversaries - special occasions to be marked by an everlasting Rose.

I have a real adult bed now, (Or a reggy bed as I used to say when I was three) and it has a wonderful down comforter that actually fits. When I was moving to Eugene I decided to get a queen sized bed. This was a decent upgrade from the twin I had been stuck on my whole life. The only problem was I didn’t have any bedding for such a large bed. I got sheets and a hand me down blanket, but I thought the comforter would be a nice Christmas gift. The past 4 months I’ve been stretching my twin down comforter over my queen bed.

Well, in the spirit of having a grown-up Christmas list, I’ve got one wish for Christmas that has to rank near the top. Since dearest Amy already has taken care of thermonuclear war and the Israeli Palestinian problem, I don’t have to put that on my list. Instead, what tops my list is: No more 12 Days of Christmas parody songs. Please.

It was my mother who informed me that by accepting the invitation to the party, I was obligated to bring Patsy Mullins a suitable birthday gift. What did I want to bring? Huh? I was being toyed with, but on Friday night when I was getting ready to walk the two blocks to Patsy’s house, my mother handed me a gift-wrapped package the contents of which were a mystery to me. My father, who could barely contain himself. started making noises about the package containing underpants. Even at twelve, I couldn’t be caught on something like that.

For my birthday, I received numerous thoughtful and fabulous gifts. And even more kind wishes for the coming year. But the best gift I received wasn’t something anyone could buy or wrap up in a neat package with a pretty bow. No, the best gift I received was when I woke up the next morning and looked at the person lying beside me. And I got my real birthday gift. Love. And for a cynical and sassy single gal like me, nothing could have been sweeter. That is, until moments later when Mr. XY looked deep into my eyes and said those three fabulous little words before I even had the chance. That was sweeter still.

3. Last night I was feeling so poorly that I didn’t notice the packages sitting outside our door and didn’t really care when Rudi came home and brought them in. Inside one was a cd from my monthly music club (always fun), but the second was from my college roomie. She sent me a belated birthday present — a handmade cat card from one craft fair and a gorgeous necklace from another. The necklace is on a peach ribbon and looks like a Christmas bon bon. I can’t wait to wear it!

Mark Meeks, owner of Stockbridge Florist and Gifts has discovered that why he felt his business was fine the local government is not happy with it’s presence! And the city of Stockbridge, GA is attempting to condemn his shop as part of a “downtown development project”. Basically they want to replace his business with things they feel would be more profitable. His business is in fine shape and nothing is worn down. It is not something that is at all worthy of condemnation.

Well, I just had to make a post, my dear hubby has created a beautiful new blog that’s all about wine gifts. I know it has nothing to do with selling our house but hey, he did a good job and I thought I’d give him some kudos. Way to go sweetie!

I digress. In an email to me, she wrote that I could not, under any circumstances, open the present before Christmas day. But when it comes to presents, I am the most impatient person there is, both in giving and receiving. If I buy a present for someone early, I must give it to them early. Example: I bought a TiVo for the fianc� two years ago as a Christmas present. I gave it to him in October because it arrived so early. And if someone gives me something before the day I am to open it, I usually tear into it without regard for the date. No patience, I tell you.

Just in time for Christmas, the global leader in trading cards ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ have released The King of Games. The cards feature new characters and monsters, and will test the competitors’ strategic minds, stimulating the mind as the game requires logical and quick thinking. The battle to be King of Duellists promises to be even more competitive this system with the release of Elemental Energy cards which offer the player powers never-before seen on the Yu-Gi-Oh! circuit.