Window Shopper

I know that some of you have not gotten your Valentine anything yet. There is still hope for you! Do not despair. The Valentine’s stuff is still there at the stores. Do not go home without it!!! Of course, the best things to get are the roses, the chocolates and the teddy bears for the wives and girlfriends. Hey, the guys love chocolate too. Ask me how I know. You might need a bit of imagination to get just that special thing for the guys……a beautifully prepared meal and candlelight would work.

For now, just get out there and get that special person something that shows that you care. Get a mushy card. Make that call. Tell them you love them. This is their day!!!

Yesterday, we were out and about voting and getting provisions for the possible bad weather coming through our county. Stopped at a couple of stores and got some nice produce and a boneless ham. I love the ham salad we can make with that ham. It’s truly great. After that, we went home to watch the weather and news. Our niece headed over to my Mom’s house because it was karate night.

The tornado came through knocking out the electricity so that we could not watch the weather reports. That reminds me that we are going to get a battery operated scanner sometime soon so that will not be a problem anymore. My sister called in hysterics because my bro-in-law was IN the tornado coming through close by. He got picked up and rolled around and set back down right side up in the minivan he was driving. Neither he nor the van sustained more than minor damage.

But now, the devastation is horrible. Many businesses and homes are now gone or damaged beyond repair. Too many folks are dealing with this. But there is a bright side. There were no deaths or major injuries in our area. There were several deaths and injuries in other parts of our states and the state east of us. We were truly blessed.

In the days after the storm, I am certain that people will pick up the pieces and begin again because that is what happens. Many of the businesses that are gone will rise again because that’s what we do, endure and keep going. It is expected that there will be power back on for most of the region this week.

The Christmas celebration is always a fun time, always. We have nine members of the family all in one fairly large room, all opening presents and talking about what they got. It’s a barrel of laughs and loads of fun. There is just one problem I seem to have as does my husband. We cannot hear half of what was said. Why? Everyone gabs at once!! Haven’t you ever been in a family like that? We all love to talk or most of us do. In this particular family, we have five adults over the age of twenty one, two adults at age nineteen and eighteen and two younger teens, ages fourteen and thirteen. The house is full.

And everyone has the same problem, actually. No one can do sign language. None of us! Isn’t that awful since we all need to hear the rest of the group? There are times when the din gets to be pretty intense. On those occasions, I truly wish that I had subscribed to a subtitle service for the family. LOL! Yes, I know that isn’t really possible but I do wish it was. We have to find a way for us all to hear at the same time. It does not help that some of us “older folk” are starting to lose a tone or two anyway. So, low tone conversations are lost. Sigh. Yes, I do think a service like that would work well, don’t you? Well, maybe not but it was worth a try anyway.

Have you noticed that when it gets to December that Christmas shoppers get a distinctly negative attitude? Did you wonder if they went home to see Marley floating around? When did it become a trial to shop for presents for someone else? Is this the attitude most people have around this time of year?

The answers to those questions may never come. But I can tell you that where we live, the attitudes are as varied as the people. Some are so negative that you just know in your heart that if Marley does not visit, it will be because he got stuck in traffic. Once the ghost of Christmas past shows up, it’s all over but the shouting!

Other people are so merry that you wish they would go home and be surprised and merry with the ghost of Christmas present. Maybe he can help the “too merry” person to get a perspective on life. And then there are those that you know have already seen the first two ghosts and could care less. You hope that they will see the next guy but this person might actually scare the crap out of the ghost of Christmas future.

But I believe that most people are actually happy and enjoying the season whether they enjoy the shopping or not. But the shopping is going to happen, at least for the rest of today and the next 4 days. Isn’t it sort of awful that after that, it’s all over. Well, not here. We have to start planning next year’s presents. Don’t you?

Merry Christmas from the Window Shopper!!! Happy Shopping, at least for the next 4 and a half days! Ho Ho Ho!

At this time of year, it is not strange to see many Christmas displays on the houses all around where you live. I love looking at those lights and scenes. They are sometimes an inspiration for the season. Many have the Santa Claus statues and the reindeer. Others have the manger scene with the baby Jesus. Still others will have combos of both. But there is one thing that is the same with them all, they are beautiful exterior lighting displays that show the season of Christmas.

Do you have a tour of lights or displays in your area? It would be fun to take the family and just tour the displays. I know that gas is expensive so make it a gift for Christmas to the entire family. Just get out there and see the sights. This only happens at Christmas. All other displays are for other reasons and not nearly as plentiful. Don’t miss this!

This is quite likely going to be in the form of a rant, well, a funny one. I refuse to get upset, for real, over this sort of thing. Yet, it is so true. Every year, we go through the same dance. We ask folks what they want for Christmas. What we get is:

I don’t know.
I don’t need anything.
Get what you think is right.
I don’t want anything.

Sigh. Is this helpful? Nope. I think that there are several kinds of folks that are really hard to buy for at all times. First, the older person who has almost everything and wants to have a garage sale to get rid of stuff. What on earth do you buy this person?? I am still waiting for a revelation on that one.

The next person who is difficult is the one who does need stuff but you could not pry it out of them for anything…tea in China, whatever. They won’t budge. Does this mean you are off the hook? Not on your life! You still have to come up with a fabulous gift that fits them but they do not have to help you in any way. GROWL!!! Big help, Irving!

Then there are those people who are teens but they want things that you have no idea what it is!! They are talking teenspeak and it will not translate into personspeak. But that’s okay with them because their cohorts understand them. That’s okay…..until Christmas morning when the day dawns bright and fair but the right thing is not under the tree. Woe to those who did not understand the teenspeak when they had the chance.

Of course, you cannot live without the younger teens and the tweens. ACK!! The young teens and tweens are too old for kid toys and too young to be adults, therefore making it easy to buy for them. Not only can you not get clothing for them…1) Your taste is nothing like theirs so forget it fast! and 2) the store does not carry their size anyway. Of course not, their tweens and young teens.

So, what do we get for those hard to buy for people? I have no idea. Do you?

If you are worried about recalled toys this year, I have a website for you to access. Please go there and check out the toys that are on recall so that your children are not affected by this problem. For those who have not noticed, many recalled items are from China. Please be extra careful to choose only those toys that are from the U.S. or have not occurred on the recall list. I have to say that if I were buying toys, I would certainly not buy any toys from China no matter how much I thought they were safe.

Please remember Aqua Dots that have the date rape drug ON the beads. If a child swallows it, they could become incredibly sick or die. Here is the Recalled Toys page for you:

Toy Recall Alert–Check BEFORE you buy!

Be safe out there and Happy Shopping!!

ACK! Did I really say that? I do not love to make a Christmas list for myself, which is what the whole family expects everyone to do each year. Some of our family will not do it. I would applaud them but I need to have that list from them too!!

Why is it that we always need those lists? Because no one ever really knows what someone wants for Christmas. In my case, each year, I would write out list after list (when I was a kid) and gave them all to my parents in the hope that they would pick out the one thing I truly wanted and give it to me without my having to hint, hint, hint about it. That was because when I did that, they found something else, not because they wanted to. Usually, it was because the item was gone by the time they shopped for it.

These days, if you have some really good things on the lists, you can find something for someone eventually. What can you get people in your family? Hmmm, try those game boards I was speaking of in previous posts. For adults, try the movies…always a favorite in our family, raymond weil watches, tshirts, a new puppy? We have puppies to give away. Want one? The kids always want computer games and games that work on the television.

You know, I could go on and on about the things that a person can buy for another person. But the best gift of all is the one that you know they want, you get it for them in love and then you watch their face when they open the gift on Christmas day. I think that is about the best gift in the world for me.

Yes, living is really easy in Arkansas, especially where we live since it is a beautiful area with deer roaming around in our front yard. But there is one huge danger if you are not careful, really careful. Golf balls. Yes, I said golf balls. Flying, dropping into your sunroof, clonking you on the head golf balls. Beware!

Where we live are a couple of golf courses, one that runs right across a major road in our village. Makes life interesting when you want to drive along on Sunday with your family. Bang!! A golf ball hits your windshield. No, it did not break it. This is my story and mine have happy endings, got it? The kids love to gather the golf balls so you stop and start gathering because the old duffers have been on the course again. The best part? Daddy can play tomorrow!!!

Okay, we talked about Monopoly, about the biggest selling board game on the planet but there are and have been others too. For instance, we have Boggle. Not a bad game. Been around a while. How about Scrabble? Now there’s a game that you can get the whole family to play. It takes some know how and a good dictionary to keep the fights down. LOL!!

So, are you planning on getting any board games this year? I have more, ya know. Cranium, Cube, Clue, Chess, Battleship (always a great game), Sorry, Candyland (is that still available?? I used to play that with my friends), Backgammon, Baffle, Jenga, Kismet, Checkers, Mastermind, Risk (that was one that I vowed never to play again. It would make me so mad, I’d lose it. Fun game.)

I ran across a game that I have not played in a whole lot of years but I loved it so much. Mille Bornes is a card game that you can get hooked on and it lasts for hours. A lot of fun for the family.

Think about it. Board games will allow everyone to play, most of them. It gives you a chance to be together on the big holiday instead of having everyone in different places.