I Win Christmas

Christmas shouldn't be a game of who wins. Really. It shouldn't. It's about giving happiness and graciously receiving yet another something you don't like. It's about feeling something other than the gimmies, which we were counseled against while children, but then asked, by everyone, "So what do you want for Christmas?" We start the consumerism early, folks.

Yet, there are times when something is given which is perfect. Last year, my oldest niece, Christina, gifted me with an Iowa Hawkeyes mobile. Perfect. Totally perfect. It could be said that she 'won' Christmas with the ultimate gift. This year, it was my turn.

One of the souvenirs people tend to come home with from Disneyland is a mouse-ears hat. The first time Carole and I went to Disney World, we got mouse hats, with our names on the back of them. You can order personalized hats from Disney's online store, but it's so much more satisfying to buy them and watch as the computerized sewing machine adds a name to the back.

My mother is never going to Disneyland or Disney World. Both involve travel which would be tiring for her. Plus, there is the walking. Of all the amusement parks on the planet, Disney parks are geared to be enjoyed by ambulatory as well as people on crutches and scooters and in wheel chairs. It seems to me Disney architects recognized, long before they were required to, people with disabilities shouldn't be left out of the Disney experience and there are wide avenues for travel. But that still doesn't mean mom, even with a scooter, for instance, is going to travel to either park. Enter Christmas and my trip to Anaheim.

I knew, heading out there, that she needed a mouse ears hat. Maybe needed is too strong of a word. She deserved a mouse ears hat. At her 80th birthday, great-granddaughter, Makayla, got her to wear a tiara and carry a wand. Mouse ears were the next step up in head gear. I also knew the hat had to be personalized with "Grandma".

On Sunday, November 8th, when Ashley, Liz and I walked into Disneyland, my first stop was the hat shop. They have everything you could want in Disney-fied head gear, everything; from Elsa's frozen tiara, with mouse ears, of course; to a cowboy or Christmas stocking hat with mouse ears. All of the hats could be personalized. After a good 10 minutes of being overwhelmed, I finally decided on this hat.

This is Minnie Mouse's hat. It's of a much heavier felt construction than other hats of female characters. I probably could have purchased a straight Mickey Mouse hat; mom does remember the Mickey Mouse club; but I really liked the bright color and the bow of Minnie's hat.

Here it is, personalized.

Due to the heavy felt, you have one option for writing. It's more expensive to personalize the hat, but mom is worth it. I wrapped it up, put it in a box and sent it to my niece, Christina. She did not know what the package was. She could remove it from the shipping box but she was not to open it. All the older great-grandkids were to gather around my mom and watch while she opened this mystery gift. Christina was to have her phone at the ready to take photos. They were finally able to open gifts this past weekend.

Mom had already received a "regular" gift from me so this was quite a surprise. Wyatt sits to mom's left. Kalub stands in front of her. Makayla sits on the floor and Lyllie doesn't care and is wandering away. Well, she's not quite 2 so this is all very exciting but what's this over here?

Even though Kalub's face is blurry, I love his look. Wyatt is bemused. Can't tell if Makayla thought it was silly.

She never, ever has to wear this again. It was totally and completely worth every penny I spent. Yes, I win Christmas this year.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

It Broke

You know how there are some things that you keep around because you just like them. Everyone else gives you that one eye half-closed, head cocked, "Hmmm" look but you happily keep that item because you want to. The cup to the left is one of those things.

We got it at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center Imagination Pavilion. This was back in 1990 and was our very first visit to the the "mouse house". At the time, Michael Jackson's Captain EO was there (It still is.) and there was a ride that featured a professor and this little dragon named "Figment". It appears this is still a part of the attraction. I remember nothing of the ride but I adored the dragon and the idea that he was a "figment of imagination". I guess, as a long-time Dungeons and Dragons gamer, a dragon representing imagination struck a cord with me.

As with every attraction at WDW, you get dumped out into a gift shop. I really hadn't seen anything up to this point that I wanted to take home with me. Suddenly, to be surrounded by little purple dragon everything, I wanted things. One of the things I got was this plastic glass.

You know these. They have liquid sandwiched between two layers. In the liquid, float these plastic items, in this case, Figment's head. You can make the heads move around the glass by rotating it. I have one with Marvin Martian.

This glass has served me in good stead. The water between the two layers has long been evaporated although I could still, if I so wanted to, make the heads move around the glass by rotating it. I think it's a squat 8 ounces which made it a go to glass for beverages. I noticed in the last couple of months, however, that dishwater and soap bubbles would seep into that inner cavity when I washed it. I couldn't find a broken seam and the water and bubbles would drip out of the unknown breach so I really didn't give it much thought. On Sunday, however, that changed.

I'd used it Saturday night, filled with Dr Pepper, so it  needed a washing on Sunday. Drop it into the dishwater and let it soak. When I picked it up, the two pieces separated and there was an obvious vertical crack on the interior liner. I fished out the heads that had fallen into the dishwater and looked at the pieces in my hands. I could "fix" this. I could just glue the two pieces back together and stick the glass in my secretary, where I keep mementos. But I hesitated.

What did this represent to me? It represented a time when a big vacation like this was something we spent two years saving for. We had a wonderful time, yes, to use their advertising, a magical time. Carole and I have gone twice since this trip. I enjoyed myself both those times, as well, although I didn't come back with the same amount of souvenirs. But was it necessary to save a plastic cup which really only meant something to me? No, not really. I tossed it.

It's not like I don't have other things to remind me of Figment. I have this stuffed animal in my home office. It reminds me to harness that figment of imagination, that spark, which I have and which brings me pleasure to use. I dust off the dragon every so often and smile at the memory of bringing him home.

Lastly, remember the blog post with Carole and I at Coco Beach and that neon shirt I was wearing? That shirt has Figment's face on it. In addition to it being loud in color, it has dragon heads on it, stylized dragon heads, but dragon heads nonetheless.

So the cup has finally broken beyond repair. I've still got my dragon.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

Visiting Ohio: Souvenirs

In a past incarnation of myself, I had to have a souvenir of every trip. I used to collect bells; those small, dinner bell-type things that are in most any souvenir shop wherever you chance to go. Emblazoned with the location of your choice, they are generally small and a decent memento of crossing the threshold of Dollywood or standing at the brink of the Grand Canyon.

Years of collecting even small items gradually builds up a large collection. I quit collecting bells about 8 years ago. I have no place to put them. A few of the recent purchases and gifts are scattered about the house, but I don't remember when the last time was I actually bought a bell with a place name on it. I have a medium-sized box in the basement with my collection. I only think about it when I have to move the box.

In this digital age, photos are a better choice for mementos. Oh I'll pick up something that tickles my fancy and it may or may not have the location's name on it, but I lean, more and more, to the photo side of things. You can't bring back the color of the sky or the view from the Interstate as you head into that river valley unless you take a photo. And, when I look at a photo, I can remember what I was doing at that time. I look at a bell and think, souvenir stand. Not quite the same.

Sometimes, something just jumps out at you as an item you need to take home. April and I were walking through the Giant Eagle grocery store. I needed to get milk to take my prednisone. They don't have milk in their house. As we passed through one of the sections of the store on the way back to the check out, I saw my souvenirs.

They were 79 cents each. Plus, I have never seen this fragrance in my stores. I need shampoo and conditioner anyway. Score!

Beverage: Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

The Things We Find

Over the weekend, while doing some uploading to the guild web site and burning CD's, I took a moment to clean off the top of my computer desk and clean the space around it. It was one of those acts that you know you should do at some point, but it's so low on the priority list as to be nowhere near the immediate 'gotta do'. Cleaning became an act of spontaneity. I should dust off the back of the desk, but I'll settle for cleaned off and organized right now.

There are two bins on the floor next to the desk. One is for office supplies. One is for, well look at that. Here are my stamps and ink pads. I was looking for them to stamp the front of Christmas cards but, in December, couldn't remember where I'd put them. On the floor next to the desk is not the most memorable place, but I don't have another place that's an intuitive place to put the bin, so right now, it will stay where it is.

In the course of cleaning, I stumbled across a few things. Confetti. Four packages of confetti. I went through a confetti phase where it was the thing to add to cards. I have (clockwise from upper left) stars; ghosts, pumpkins and black cats; balloons; and small cats.

I'm not sure what to do with this stuff. I wouldn't dream of sticking it in cards now. I know how I would feel if I opened a card and confetti fell out. I'm not even sure why I bought these in the first place. I probably had a reason. For now, I stuck the packages in a drawer. Maybe one of my readers wants them.

The next item I know why I bought it. In 2006, I went to Colonial Williamsburg. My clan had their annual meeting there. I had never been to this location and a clan meeting was a good way to see Williamsburg. It was a fun time, very interesting. I came back with some decent souvenirs, one of which is to the left.

Carole used to collect key chains. They are easy to store and inexpensive to obtain. She also played the flute and, while this is a fife player, it's reminiscent of the flute. It was a couple bucks in one of the stores. I was going to give it to her in her Christmas stocking.

But, when I came back from the trip, she had decided she didn't want to store all these key chains she'd collected. While they were nice and a wonderful way of remembering where she'd been, she had too many of them and collecting these didn't interest her anymore. The keychain was set aside and set aside some more and fell into the box of office supplies. I don't need it. It will probably wind up in the give away bag unless someone out there wants it.

I found these scissors I had forgotten I had. They have a scalloped edge and I know I bought them to make cards one year. I moved them from the office bin to the crafting drawer in the wardrobe behind me. I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of them, but in the drawer, which I do use often, at least I'll see them more than in the bottom of a bin. I could, very easily, part with these. About the time I ship them off, I'll find a use for them but that's the way it goes.

Lastly, I found these items that I won't part with. These were my grandfather's. The upper left item enlarges the print in a small area. We used these in college to look at photos and text when I was on the newspaper. Back in the days of Linotype, this magnifying monocle was a necessity to check for broken letters. I used to use it when I edited a magazine and needed to proof the product before it went to print. Grandpa Al was in publicity for Allis Chalmers so he would have used it to look at photos and type for ads.

The large circular glass is also a magnifying glass. I'm not sure exactly what grandpa used it for but I can speculate. He was an avid coin and stamp collector. I do remember him using the monocle viewer to look at coins and stamps. I'm thinking he used the large magnifier for the same purpose.

It's not that I won't get rid of them because of their attachment to my grandfather. There is that. But these are useful. I don't like to do cross-stitch on anything smaller than 18 count fabric. Generally, when you go smaller, you're doing stitching over 2 squares, not just one. It's way too hard for me to see the thread count. So I stay with what I can see easily. The smaller thread counts lend themselves to more intricately detailed cross-stitched pictures. I have some I'd like to try. Having a magnifying glass handy could make the stitching process easier for me. If I combine that with the new glasses I intend to get at the end of the month, I'll look through my patterns for something reasonably easy and give it a go. I moved these to the craft drawer too where, in theory, I'll remember where they are. In practice, there will be a post come April about where did I put those.

So, I'm inspired now to move onward through the office and clean out more piles. I wish I knew how to put things up on eBay. I have things that probably others would want or could use. I've realized that stuff does not equate to happiness and my happiness would be better if I had less stuff. If you're a friend and you want any of the top three items, you know how to contact me.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Souvenirs

I'm not quite sure what I will do with the lanyard and the VIP tag. The shirt I have had for some 20 years. I made that. It seemed to be the appropriate shirt for a festival involving beer.

This is a nice, heavy, glass which everyone got for tasting. On the back side is a line marking 3 ounces. You could have less but you couldn't have more at one time. In the time I was there, I never heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass as one of these was dropped. Maybe that happened later or maybe it didn't happen at all. This is something I'll hang on to. It's very good quality.

We VIP's got a tee shirt. I really need another tee shirt like I need bubonic plague but they did not skimp on the shirt. These are heavy duty cotton with a well printed design. Sometimes, these festival shirt designs can peel as you're walking out to your car.This is going to hold up over several washings.

We got VIP on the arm...

and the slogan on the back. A few people were wearing their shirts over what they had come in. Most people were carrying their shirt around. I used mine as a towel to mop off my sweaty brow. They checked you in and crossed off your name when you got your tee shirt.

I hope each year's tee shirt is just a little different, not that I'm looking to add to my shirt collection. It's just that if you wind up attending something for a long time, it's nice to pull a shirt out of the closet and think, "Oh yeah, that was the 4th annual festival because the shirt was yellow."

This souvenir I could do without even though I know it's necessary. I hate these things. Invariably, I put it on either too tight or too loose. Then, when you get home, the only way to get it off is to cut it off. VIP's got green bands while general admission was red.

I didn't go to get a tee shirt and a glass. I went to try something new. These are, however, nice items to get for forking out more money to come early.

Beverage:  Earl Gray tea

Deb

The Return of Green

This lovely bauble to the left goes on my car antenna. Rodney went to New York several years ago. One of the places he visited was the huge M&M/Mars store near Times Square. He saw this and knew it was a perfect souvenir for me. Green has been on my antenna ever since.

In the fall, I noticed she was gone. I was very sad about it. Although I almost never lose my car in a parking lot other than, "I could have sworn I parked in 4B, didn't I?", it was a bit easier to find the Jeep in a sea of cars by looking for the antenna. I felt somewhat incomplete without the bauble. I had no idea where I could have lost it and felt that maybe someone decided they liked it enough to take it.

Last Wednesday, as I was rolling the recycling can out to the street, I stopped to pick up an errant piece of paper and there she was, in the drive. She must have been loose and got knocked off by the trees along the house, falling into the drive where I promptly ran over her all winter. But other than being dirty, she was no worse for wear. I gave her a bath and she looks pretty good.

Yesterday, I put her back on the antenna. It's just a silly thing, I know, but sometimes the silly things are the most meaningful.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb