Advent Calendar - Day 9

For Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's house, we had ham, which was very good, but I kind of missed having turkey and all the other things that usually go along with it, so Bob said he would cook a turkey for us, which he did Friday. He left that evening to go hunting, so he carved the turkey and put the meat away, then yesterday afternoon when he came home from work, he made mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing, and we had our own little Thanksgiving at home last night.

After we ate, we filled up little containers and took dinner over to the store to his boss, which was fun. They've really gone all out with the Christmas decorations; I took a few pictures while Bob was talking to people. There are a few more on the Moblog.

We got our first substantial snowfall today; I'm going to go home and have a turkey sandwich for dinner.

There's a new Advent calendar this week, but if you missed last week's, it's still here.

Click the thumbnail above to go to the Advent Calendar page. Once there, click on the number corresponding to the day of the month. Some of the days will have details on little contests or drawings, so check each day for a special note.

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Advent Calendar - Day 8

We went to Bob's Christmas party last night, and Bob was named Associate of the Year! They choose an Associate of the Month each month, then at the end of the year one of those twelve is named Associate of the Year. This year was different in that they held a vote among all of the employees to choose who would be honored. Bob was extremely surprised.

The party was very nice. They had the food catered; it was appetizers -- fresh vegetables and dip, boiled shrimp, potato skins -- those were the things that I had, but there were other things also, some kind of chicken or beef on skewers, barbequed chicken drumsticks, just lots of interesting things. The employees all brought desserts, so there were LOADS of wonderful things. I made cheesecake brownies.

We had planned to go straight home after the party because Bob was getting a cold, but since he was the honored guest, we went out to a bar afterward with a few friends.

All in all, it was quite a night.

There's a new Advent calendar this week, but if you missed last week's, it's still here.

Click the thumbnail above to go to the Advent Calendar page. Once there, click on the number corresponding to the day of the month. Some of the days will have details on little contests or drawings, so check each day for a special note.

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Advent Calendar - 5, 6, 7

This year I've been thinking about gifts that are "consumable," i.e., that get used up, or re-used. A couple of years ago I made homemade soap; last year I knitted quite a few scarves. I've always tried to make a least some of my Christmas gifts. It's hard, working full time and doing that. Of course, I could have started months ago, but I'm never very good at doing that.

I remember several years running when I tried to at least make something for my parents; there's a crocheted wreath that my mom brings out every year, and a big plaster candle holder that I painted for her. Of course, years after the fact I'm a little embarrassed by those homemade things, but I know that, just like when I made an ashtray in kindergarten, my parents would love anything that I made, no matter how clumsily.

When I got my hair cut on Saturday, my hairdresser suggested a book of family recipes, and that would be a really good idea. I'm sure that my sisters would appreciate it. I'm going to think about that. I probably won't do it this year, but it's a good idea.

The Advent calendar has been updated!

Click the thumbnail above to go to the Advent Calendar page. Once there, click on the number corresponding to the day of the month. Some of the days will have details on little contests or drawings, so check each day for a special note.

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Advent Calendar - Day 4

I heard on the local news yesterday morning that two people had been robbed at gunpoint after arranging to meet someone to purchase iPhones that had been offered on Craigslist. Two things that made me think of -- my sister bought something from someone on Craigslist over the Thanksgiving weekend, and we were talking about it, and I asked her how she was going to get it. She said she was meeting the woman at a parking lot somewhere -- I can't remember where, but a public place, which I thought made sense. Now I'm wondering if even that's safe.

I occasionally sell stuff on eBay, usually yarn that I no longer need, and a couple of weeks ago I had someone ask if they could come pick an order up. This person won a $5.00 ball of yarn, wrote and said she lived fairly nearby, was retired and thus "flexible," and could she just pick up the yarn and have me remove the shipping charge from the order.

Well, in the first place, the shipping charge is not just for the shipping part, it's also supposed to cover "handling," i.e., the cost for the packaging and my time in preparing it. Not that it's a big deal, but that nickel-and-diming thing is always a little irritating. Also, the reason I love things like eBay is that I can be my normal antisocial self and don't actually have to interact with people, sad as it may be to say.

Anyway, I thought, well, no, I don't want to do that, but should I? I felt kind of bad, but I wrote back to her and said that I wasn't comfortable with that, and would prefer to mail her the package, and she sent me the money with no more conversation, which was a relief.

It didn't really occur to me until later that, while I'm sure everything would have been fine, it could have been a scam, or a ploy -- buy something cheap on eBay, then rob the person who shows up to deliver it, or, I guess more likely, rob the person when you show up at their house and they let you in. I'm glad I didn't agree to it, in any event, and will keep it in mind in the future. It's too bad, but that's the world we live in.

I was reading this the other day: Thoughts on Japan from a first-time visitor, and this comment struck me:

Perhaps what I liked the most is the very strong sense of security. You never feel threatened or insecure. You never worry about that sort of thing.

It would be nice if we could feel that way here.

Be sure to check out the Advent calendar.

Click the thumbnail above to go to the Advent Calendar page. Once there, click on the number corresponding to the day of the month. Some of the days will have details on little contests or drawings, so check each day for a special note.

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Advent Calendar - Day 3

Getting into the Christmas spirit doesn't have to be expensive. And I don't mean stuff like using last year's Christmas cards to decoupage an old tray or something, or stick cloves into oranges and hang them on your Christmas tree. I mean just doing the things that you normally do, but giving some thought to making them special, or just doing little things that help get you into the holiday mood.

I was thinking about that tonight as I was driving home listening to the all-Christmas music radio station Kansas City's Star 102). Radio is free, and you hear a lot of great Christmas music without having to buy it. And as I was getting that link, I see that you can actually listen to the station online through a browser. They play a good mix of old familiar songs and a few new ones; it seems like I always hear a couple of songs that I've never heard before.

We don't take the newspaper anymore, but you don't have to buy TV Guide to find out what's on television, you can access TV Guide online. I've been looking for Christmas movies, hoping to catch some old favorites that I don't have on DVD. I watched "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer" tonight; I hadn't seen it in awhile, and now I'm really glad I didn't actually buy it -- it doesn't hold up very well.

Of course, if you have favorite Christmas movies, you can always rent them rather than buying them; I do buy my favorites, but DVDs aren't terribly expensive anymore. And you can even rent them from iTunes, usually for $2.99. And during the holidays, iTunes gives away a couple of holiday songs for free each week, you just have to remember to go get them.

Amazon also usually has a few free MP3s to download; right now they have a free 5 song holiday sampler that isn't bad at all. Another good thing about iTunes or Amazon MP3s is that you can buy just one song, if that's all you want from an album, rather than buying the entire album. They's usually just 99 cents, and that solves the problem of what to do when you really, really want just one song, but can't bring yourself to buy the whole album.

And those Christmas-patterned paper towels and paper napkins? I buy that stuff anyway, and the holiday-themed ones don't cost any more, so why not get them? And the same thing for liquid hand soap, bubble bath, or any kind of personal care product like that -- as long as you're going to buy it anyway, buy a special holiday version. I know it always makes me feel better. I took a bath tonight in Bath & Body Works' Wickedly Hot Chocolate bubble bath, one of my favorite things in the world. Of course, they don't carry it anymore . . .

The same goes for the cranberry gingerale I bought over the weekend -- I buy it as a special treat, but I'd be getting soda anyway, so it makes sense (at least to me) to buy something a little different that only appears in stores over Christmas. Of course, that doesn't extend to those weird Jones Soda flavors like turkey and gravy. [Shudder.]

Be sure to check out the Advent calendar.

Click the thumbnail above to go to the Advent Calendar page. Once there, click on the number corresponding to the day of the month. Some of the days will have details on little contests or drawings, so check each day for a special note.

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