Collections, Acquisition, Gifts

We didn't have to deal with many gifts this year. And by 'deal' I mean find a place for them, write 'thank you' notes for them, etc. Does that seem crass and ungrateful? In the past, I collected things or was interested in things and these collections inspired gifts. Same for my husband and I as a couple and him separately. Same for our parents (whose effects we had to dispose of from 2002-2011).

This year we allowed each other to buy things 'for Christmas.' My husband got a sports coat and, I think, a book. I got a page-a-day French word and phrase calendar. I'm going to order a gadget from Amazon eventually. He bought me a beautiful winter scarf and I bought him an expensive tie (which he'd admired). Gift exchange (and disposing or saving wrapping) took minutes. We received gifts from my niece by mail. An interesting book (mentioned in an earlier entry), a rocks glass with an etching of an NYC map and some comestibles (mentioned in an earlier entry as well). We've mostly consumed the edibles. I've read about half the book and enjoyed the pictures of aging people. The glass awaits a Manhattan on the rocks for me or a guest. The truth is we have lots of fancy glassware some on display (as shown here) and some tucked away in a small bar, a console and cabinets.

All this stuff has to be maintained. Dusted, sorted, occasionally given away. The little cart above contains a remnant of an old collection of deco barware. It is a drinks pump with little glasses. It's never been used by us. It's just decoration. We have other barware decorating some bookshelves. This particular piece was found by my sister who had my dad buy it for us. Collections are like that. People add to them. Folks used to give me bendable figures with some regularity. Also, above you see several Welcome Kitties. My husband saw one in a bar, ordered one off eBay and then acquired a few others. So it goes. One year a friend sent a Welcome Kitty Christmas ornament after seeing a video of the Welcome Kitties welcoming with their paws. It usually sits with its animated buddies but currently is part of the Christmas decor with the only other glass ornaments we have. (We don't do a tree.)

Right now most surfaces have some of my Christmas (mostly bendable) figures collection. (See also the barware on this shelf.)

And books. Oh. My. Books. We buy them, we get them as gifts. And we have trouble weaning the collection. (We did give away over a thousand before moving from our large house in 2008.)

The stuff. The 'collections.' Fun. But sometimes overwhelming. At one time or the other, I dabbled in collecting things besides bendables and barware. There were the old globes. There was the vintage toy collection. There was dabbling in fake food. I accumulated pastis pitchers for a party decoration. And then there's the glassware (we still have most of that). The collections don't seem to inspire gifts as much anymore.

Fortunately, we receive very few gifts at all. This year my last remaining aunt sent a 100 dollar bill in her Christmas card. We decided that we would go hear a band and instead of our usual twenty-dollar tip share the C note with them. And we did. We got our money's worth. We explained the tip to the bandleader and how we felt spending it this way gave us the most possible psychic income.

All I Want For Christmas

Earlier in the month, I wrote an email to FFP with a sort of facetious Christmas list. But it was also kind of true.

• Some nice bar soap.
• A French word-a-day calendar
• A drive to Dallas to see Anna again give her some pictures I scanned (or show them to her electronically). We can go some off day after Christmas or New Year or ?
• Do a jigsaw puzzle (I have one I think)
• Put together a Lego (have it)
• Get all the newspapers out of my stacks (will require time and dedication)
• Have a couple of nice meals (Lenoir? Counter 357? Wu Chow?)
• See some movies at VC or Alamo and watch some vids (Giant? new Crown?)
• Go to some jazz shows
• Do our annual visit or visits to Armadillo Bazaar and see Christine or ?
• Go to Headliners or Austin Club for drinks
• Do some more clean-up, clean-out of closets, cabinets, storage, etc.
• Some long walks on days nicer than today

He has a gift bag for me. It's from a boutique on 2nd Street called Mercury. I'm sure it has some nice soap in it. Am I becoming an old lady or what?

He bought me a French 'Daily Phrases and Culture Calendar' at BookPeople. It's not wrapped or anything. It's here ready for my use. He also got me Sam Shepard's "Spy of the First Person" which I later said I wanted. Maybe I'll read that on Christmas Day. Nothing like the last work of a dying man on Christmas Day. Or New Year's Day perhaps.

The drive to Dallas is still pending. Some of my cousins promise to be around for my aunt and I've been watching the weather.

The puzzle (a secondhand one someone gave me) is out of the closet and coming together. He stayed up late last night working on it. Jigsaw puzzles have many lessons to teach (especially when worked on by multiple people!). 

I have a complicated Christmas Lego. I thought it would make a great decoration, put together. Might be too late on that. Next year!

Maybe I will conquer the newspapers on Christmas Day. Love having time to make it through all the Wall Street Journals, New York Times and our local rag, The Austin American-Statesman. 

We've had a few nice meals, but not at the suggested restaurants so far. We've already been piling in movies. Saw "The Darkest Hour" and "Wonder Wheel" at the Violet Crown. Have streamed and watched some movies on DVD. Maybe we'll get to "Giant" on Christmas Day.

We saw a set of jazz with friends last night and will do the same tomorrow night. We plan to go to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar and see Christine Albert and Chris Gage tomorrow at noon. Then dinner and the Christmas Show at the Elephant Room for more jazz.

He made reservations to go to the Headliners Club for drinks and dinner on New Year's Eve. We'll do the ringing in at home.

Wouldn't it be nice if I cleaned out some more stuff? Well, at least I haven't acquired too much this holiday season.

We've had some nice walks when the weather permitted. More to come I'm sure before the 'holidays' are officially over.

Meanwhile, my niece sent some actual presents. A book of crossword puzzles, a couple of fun books,

 a page-a-day calendar of strange facts and these shoelaces that you just slide tight and they can never come untied. I'm fearful of losing the exercise I was getting bending over and tying the laces on my hikers. For some reason, they came with these round laces that seem to come untied even when I double knot them. I tested them out today. Perfection! I'm easily pleased.

Real physical presents don't matter. It really is the thought that counts. FFP said all he really wanted (bearing in mind that he already bought new pants, a new leather jacket and I forget what else for himself) was a new floor lamp by his reading chair. We shopped (buy didn't buy) for one today. (FYI: no one is shopping in furniture and lighting stores!)

Santa Arrived

When I sorted through some slides my aunt had saved all these years I found some of a Christmas she must have spent with her sister (the mom of, at the time, two of my cousins). One shot was of the Christmas tree after Santa had visited. A bike for the older one, dolls, little dresses and other toys. When we are kids we have such high hopes for Christmas. We anticipate getting the perfect gifts from our list. We used to scour the Sears Christmas book to dream about that really wonderful toy. Even though there were no people in this one, I had it scanned. I imagine the little girls rushing in to find their loot. Now when I was a kid only the bike would have pleased me. Dress? Meh. Baby doll? Meh. But these kids look like they were well-pleased in this photo:

I wonder how (and if) they remember this Christmas/

Wish List

I think most of the people in my generation (Baby Boomers) spent a large part of the autumns of their childhood finding things in a 'Wish Book' for their Christmas list. This magic book usually came from Sears in our household, but I think Montgomery Wards and J.C. Penney and others probably got into the game, too.

I ripped this picture off from eBay where these vintage catalogs go for lots of money these days. No doubt they are valuable references for set designers, toy and kitsch collectors and costume designers.

This one dates from a bit after my childhood, but note the fun construction stuff in this spread. The Erector Set picture at the top of this entry, though, is a snap of one in this very apartment and I received it when I was nine or ten years old, in the late fifties. I keep it as a reminder of the struggle to get toys that I wanted, Not only were they sometimes outside the limits of the family budget but they were also very specifically branded for boys. (See the cover art above.) I think it's nice that the spread from the catalog shows a girl building a skyscraper. This was from the '70's, though, and my time had passed. Of course, when I had some money and was grown, I bought and collected toys like Lego Sets and all manner of fun stuff for a while. Just a pent-up demand to have what was so hard to come by when it was age appropriate, I guess. The great downsizing of 2007-2008 eliminated most of this stuff although a few things like the Erector Set and several hundred bendable poseable figures survived.

This year, I've made a reverse wish list. On this list are things people usually wish for at Christmas. Instead of wishing for them, I have cataloged things I own already obviating the need for more.

• Watches [I think I have seven. Three cost fifty dollars or much less and were purchased while on trips when the watch I was wearing had its battery fail. Two cost several hundred dollars. One, by Gucci, was a gift from my husband. A few years ago, he had it cleaned and reconditioned. Another, a Swiss Army stainless steel number, I bought years ago. A careless jeweler had messed it up trying to change the battery. My husband had it properly repaired recently. The other two areold, gold stem-winders. One is 18 karat gold, bought in 1975 in a Bucherer store in Switzerland. The other is 14 karat and is, I think, a Corum. I bought it at a charity auction. These last two are locked away in a safe. Gold is worth about 30 times what it was in 1975, I believe.] No watches in the stocking!
• Mufflers [I have several. A favorite is made from soft lambswool and I bought it in Germany in 1972. Miraculously, I've never lost it.] So, really, no mufflers needed.
• Sweaters [It seemed that cold weather was never coming here in Austin this year but as I write this it will be in the fifties when we go out tonight. I got the sweaters out from winter storage and they are aired out. I have a blue cashmere I bought in a thrift store for fifteen dollars, a very nice ultra thin black cashmere from Ralph Lauren, ditto a purple one, a cheaper red one and brown one (but still cashmere), an older black silk and cashmere and a hand-knitted ski style sweater made by an aunt who died in the 1990's. There are more, I'm sure.] No sweaters, Santa.
• Socks [Classic gift. I usually wear black ones now or brown or white athletic ones. I rarely get into the depths of the two drawers containing socks. And up at the heights of the closet is a storage box with bright colors and patterns. From another time when I'd make a sock statement.] Yeah, no socks.

So none of the above. Give a gift to charity if you must remember me. 

Yep. And there are many other things that I don't need. That are unlisted. In compiling this, though, I realize that I've identified at least five doven things I own. (Lots of socks.) Out of the, what, 10,000?

Holiday Resolutions...Results are In!

Above: the sum total of our Christmas decorations with the tiny tree dwarfed by our presents to each other. (If you don't count our display of holiday cards.)

Before Holidailies began I made some Holiday Resolutions in this space. So it's time to review them now that the holidays are drawing to a close. See? Another great thing about holiday resolutions (as opposed to New Year's ones) is that the results are in soon enough. A year is too long a time to give yourself. I can sit here today (a rainy New Year's Day with temperatures in the 40's at best) and review them and be done and dusted of resolutions.

So here's my assessment based on the promises made in the above link:

• I have steered clear of the malls, the big box stores, etc. I probably need a trip to Costco some time after January 10 or so to stock up on cheese and some paper goods. And maybe even pick up a new gadget or two. (Or not.) In all honesty I don't really usually shop malls and big box stores. Make resolutions you can keep I say.
• We shopped independent stores. FFP bought me a couple of great books at Book People, the large independent book store that is a short walk from us. (They are in the package above before the Christmas Eve unwrapping.) I have started to dip into both of them: "Invictus" by John Carlin and "When Paris Went Dark" by Ronald Rosbottom. Both going to be great reads.I bought him a tie. I know, trite. However. I bought it at an independent clothing store downtown. I walked over there. AND I bought it off a mannequin in the window. FFP admired it one day when we were walking by. And I remembered. It was the only one they had exactly like that. He liked it and spent a bunch of time matching it to shirts and jackets. He loves clothes. We also shopped at his favorite store, an independent clothing store not far but not walkable, where he got a new suit, a new leather jacket and we both got new belts. He bought some sweaters at a chain store but at least it was one he could walk to! He bought a new hat (the kind golfers and hip musicians wear) at Goorin Brothers and while it's a national brand they are a very old (100+ years plus) hat maker. They have a single Texas store on South Congress. And yes, we walked there. We bought more books at South Congress Books as gifts to ourselves. This is a regular stop on one of our walks. I got two catalogs form Lance Letsher shows at a French gallery for myself. While I sort of gave in on the decorations (see below and above) we did shop for the tiny tree and its 'ornaments' at Toy Joy, a short walk over on Second Street from our apartment. So yeah we were jolly elves to ourselves but shopped pretty much independent and in the 'hood. We also bought libations for friends at Austin Wine Merchant, a great wine and liquor store in our neighborhood. (We can, in fact, walk to five or six liquor stores and several more places where wine and beer is available.)
• I forgave myself for the crass gift of money to relatives. In point of fact I ended up purchasing some actual gifts as well and sending to my great nephews. However, my niece gave me quite specific directions. (Next year I'm going to buy a Lego toy for myself and put it together over the holidays. Maybe.)
• I refrained from anything resembling a Santa or Elf Costume. I did wear my ancient red blazer to several parties. As festive as I got. How old is it? Well, I'm not sure, but it's probably twenty years old. When people complimented me on it, I said it was vintage but that I bought it when it was new! 
• I did not cook a turkey or a ham. I graciously ate the (pre-cooked) one our Thanksgiving hosts provided. I did cook up some sausages and bacon in the microwave, (something I almost never do) as special holiday breakfast treats.
• I spent not one iota of interest on the arguments over religion during the holiday. I noticed, with some amusement, that a nativity scene was place at the Capitol briefly and some believers in separation of church and state were offended. I was offended by nothing anyone did and enjoyed all the jolly trees and people's celebrations of Christmas and Hanukkah on facebook. We were not invited to the Winter Solstice party. We used to get invited but I guess we were not good enough guests. Or pagan enough. In any case, it was one more night that we had to ourselves to enjoy our calm holiday.
• I didn't decorate too much. FFP wanted a tree so we bought the one above and added tiny bats, flamingos, etc to decorate it. Got it at ToyJoy as mentioned above. I didn't drag out my bendable, posable holiday collection and other decorations from the depths of my storage cage. The one Santa above got left out after the last Christmas the bendable guys were up here. The several ornaments around him are ones we received over the holidays.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the decorations of others. There are several examples on our Austin Daily Photo blog. People go to so much trouble and I enjoy it. We didn't go driving around to look at lights, however.
• We ate at several great restaurants and enjoyed parties. We even gave a dinner party for an (early) New Year's Eve dinner. We tried out a new restaurant and went to some tried and true ones, too. Didn't do Threadgill's (or any other place) on actual Christmas Day. Stayed in and had whatever we pleased from a stocked frig. 
• We did see some movies. Well, one at the theater around the corner (Violet Crown) which was "Foxcatcher." Good but disturbing movie. We watched a DVD of "Gone with the Wind" and one of "Jezebel" and also watched the Christmas scene and a few others from "Giant."
• We enjoyed the parties. Even though we didn't give a party we treated a couple of people to dinners and hosted a small party in a restaurant early on NYE as mentioned above. Maybe next year I'll give a party but probably not. The ones we attended were outstanding. Our dinner party was flawless with great conversation from very interesting guests.

Now that was simple wasn't it? Holiday or New Year's...I think the secret to resolutions is making ones you can certainly keep!

Lastly, for this holiday wrap-up, I bring you my assessment of the ritual holiday cards. As mentioned here I did not send cards this year but rather replied to the ones I received. But only the ones that were from individuals (not businesses or Realtors or brokers or charities). In the end I received two from people I could not remember knowing including two copies of one of them. FFP remembered being asked a favor by one of them. Didn't reply to those either. How could you write a personal note to someone you can't remember anything about? I also did not reply to one from one half of a couple who divorced. Didn't have it in me to write a note.

So...we received 22 cards from businesses, charities, brokers, etc. I got 56 from individuals who made the cut to reply to although two were from relatives that I had actually sent cards to before Thanksgiving with Christmas money in them. A lot of them were simple matte or glossy cards with family pictures. Some included those letters summing up the year in some fashion. One was only said letter but it was illustrated. Some were simply seasonal art or photos. There were snow scenes, snowmen, a Matisse chapel cut out card, the three wise men, doves, dogs, cats, ornaments, owls, Santas, wreaths, penguins, snowflakes, trees, birds, A few wrote a substantial personal note in actual handwriting expressing more or less heartfelt desires to see us in person or wish us well. I sent 57 cards including the three preemptive ones to relatives. (Two later sent me one and one had a form letter describing the year and another had a picture of the kid and a hand-written thanks for the money. One just sent a thank you, I think.) So I have a stack of paper and cardboard with glitter drifting from some of them. I'll keep them for a bit and then they will hit the trash or recycling bin. I'll save a few pictures. All in all, I enjoyed them and I've given the Matisse one a place of honor on my shelf.

Endings. And this ends Holidailies, too. Hope you enjoyed it. I have. But now I have one less duty of a morning and can do some other tasks around here. Or, you know, sit in my chair and stare dreamily out the window.

A Surfeit of Umbrellas

The Visible Woman...owns...umbrellas.

These compact little lightweight (they are Tyvek or something) ones from REI got pulled out and used today when we went walking and it started to rain. Lucky I'd stashed them in the backpack. They are drying off in the spare bathroom which doubles as storage.

Near the front door is an umbrella stand we bought when we moved into this little condo apartment.

I spend a lot (too much in fact) of time thinking about things. Mostly things I already own that are impinging on my personal space. Which is easy to do in this relatively small apartment even though we've maximized the storage space.

Even when I lived in a 3000-square-foot house with a double garage and tons of storage I obsessed about these things. In my 2004 journal I randomly listed things I owned with some commentary. I must say that it is interesting to read this list and note things I gave away, things I no longer think I have but can't remember how I got rid of them and things that are still are part of my life. (Two warm throws described are in the living room of this apartment. And one was bought the same year on the same trip as my muffler.)

Today we went for a walk (to the bank, to the Driskill Hotel to look at their Christmas decorations, to the Farmer's Market) and I put my two little umbrellas (see above) in my backpack. Good thing. Rained pretty hard before we got back. I bought those at REI in the last couple of years. Great for travel. I put them in the carryon and they add almost no weight. 

We have a bunch of other umbrellas. In the stand by the door, there are two very nice compact ones given away by the Austonian Condos when they were marketing the place. There are about a half dozen other ones, relatively compact to very compact including a red one that my Aunt Mary gave me as a present. (I don't know when but she died over two decades ago. And she may have given it to me before I moved to Austin. Which was 38 years ago.) And there is a large, Italian-made one with a lovely fish handle. This is the season of gift-giving. I got this one as a gift and I love it! It was a birthday gift, though. It made me realize that, no matter how many umbrellas you have that a really nice one makes a great gift. 

I think both of us have a least one or two cheap, beat-up umbrellas in our cars.

And yet, somehow, I don't feel like I have too many umbrellas. In spite of the title I gave this entry.

We did have a Four Seasons umbrella. A large, nice one like they loan to their guests. We didn't steal it. FFP did them a PR favor and they gave it to him. Really. Anyway one day a friend visited the condo and it started raining. We loaned him the umbrella. He didn't return it, kept using it around town and, he said, 'accidentally' left it...at the Four Seasons. He either thought we stole it or he was just careless. How could he ask for it back!? Anyhow, we have plenty of umbrellas and it's a funny story. A funny story is worth its weight in gold.

So...one of the few (four) non-cash gifts I bought this year was...an umbrella! A very, very nice one for FFP. If he's reading this he knows one of the things in the gift bag for him. The other thing is something we (and he) always have multiples of around here.

Uncommon Presents

I haven't purchased a single Christmas present. Oh I sent some fairly large checks to Colorado for my sister and brother-in-law and their kids and kids' families to spend on Christmas and December birthdays. And I did buy a bottle of Rosé Champagne for a friend's birthday. But not one present purchased for Christmas and wrapped in red and green or stuck in a Santa gift bag.

I used to buy some small things for some friends, but they've agreed to call a halt to it. When we still had parents alive we'd come up with something for them to unwrap. I usually come up with a wrapped gift (if not a surprise) for Forrest.

This year: nada.

I mean, some years I probably bought scores of gifts. I'd give little goofy presents at work. I bought presents for all my cousins' kids one year, I think. I bought people gadgets and plates and socks and small leather goods and glassware and stationery. I bought people books and journals. I bought calendars for people's special interests. I purchased much gift booze. For several years I sent stocking stuffer gifts to my relatives in Colorado, carefully assembling a load of small surprises for each person.

And now. Nothing.

While not shopping but wandering in a few stores and online sites I've considered things I could have gotten people. A two volume Baedeker's guide to Germany published in the early twentieth century, in German, with lots of amazing tipped in maps for a friend who speaks the language and has spent a lot of time there. Cute Lego toys for my great nephews and great niece. (I didn't even go inside the Lego store in Rockefeller Plaza.) I considered  iPod touches for kids, noting prices and what gift cards were offered with purchase. I considered collapsible water bottles for everyone. (How handy, who couldn't use one?) Tiny lightweight umbrellas from REI like the ones I got myself recently. New varieties of whiskey and various drinks-related accessories at my favorite wine and spirits store.

I bought none of these things.

I'm sorry about the economy. And there is still the chance I'll find something for FFP (maybe I should have gotten those expensive cuff links). Maybe I'll pick up a bottle of something when setting out to be with friends or go to their parties. Or, maybe, I'll have a completely clean slate. A perfect curmudgeonly attitude. Bah. But if it's the thought that counts...I did think about presents.

The Best Gift

I just noticed that today's Holidailies writing prompt is 'What is the best thing you ever received for the holidays?' I had just edited the picture above with the intent of using it for a piece with the boring title 'Shopping.' This is one of the 'jewel' windows at Berdorf Goodman in New York City. For the holidays they have little doll-like mannequins offsetting the jeweled baubles. Personally I don't have or want much jewelry but isn't this a lovely picture? Yours truly is reflected with her handy digital camera. One of probably six or seven digital cameras I've owned. None were gifts.

But one of my best gifts was a camera. I was in my teens and I was dying for a Polaroid Land Camera 100 with chrome and leather trim. You could get one for probably $120 1960's dollars. A lot of money. (A little inflation calculator I found indicated that it would probably be equivalent to around $900 today.) You could also get one for a bazillion books of S&H green stamps. My mom let me have her stash and I continued getting hers at the grocery store and pasting them in books. My grandmother gave me hers. I had nowhere near enough. I had maybe a dozen books. The camera required 40 or 50. My mom talked me out of the stamps, reasoning that other nice gifts could be obtained. I was crushed that I wouldn't get the camera. It was way out of range for a present back then. But on Christmas morning there it was. I took probably thousands of pictures with it. My folks gifted me portrait and close-up lenses. I was always using babysitting money for film.. My nieces, born in '68 and '70 after I was out of high school, were endlessly photographed with this camera and the originals and copies of these are cherished possessions around the family. (We used to mail the originals to Polaroid. On the adhesive backing they provided was an order form. They'd reprint the photo in different sizes.) Here's my youngest niece, just sitting up in 1970.

Yes the camera was wonderful and quite a coup to get and, unlike so many other things, the pleasure lasted a long time. I took it to college. I had it at the ready for many family gatherings. I'd stand there, posing people and then deftly snapping out the developing print and guarding it until it was dry. There was much chemical waste. And those flashbulbs that popped and crackled and heated up, only avoiding exploding fragments because of a plastic-like film over the glass. I kept the camera long after it was functional for sentimental reasons. When I downsized I gave it away to a Freecycle contact who wrote later that he'd repaired the bellows and made it work again. Of course, film is problematic although there is a group that bought Polaroid's factory machines and was attempting to make it available again.

But if the camera was my favorite gift, I'm pretty sure the Christmas when I was nine years old was my best overall Christmas coup. I wanted an Erector set. And I got the best one imaginable. It had an electric motor and it was the Rocket Launcher set and it had a picture of a 1950's little boy operating the rocket launcher he'd built. I was a wily little girl and when I picked this Erector Set out of the Sears catalog, I also picked a gift that would be considered educational and unisex: a metal world globe with little Disney characters in costume. And, yes, when we returned to school and were asked to say what we gotten for Christmas that we really liked (how politically and socially incorrect that would be these days) I talked about my new globe. I still have the Erector set. The globe went to a charity when I graduated from high school I think. I kind of miss owning it and still look on eBay for one now and then.

These days I don't want for anything. I don't have a Christmas list and, hopefully, I won't get too many presents. When I want something, I usually just buy it. While we were in NYC we looked in many shop windows but only entered a few stores. Our only purchases were two books at our favorite Manhattan indie bookstore. But I still remember the excitement of not having something, of wanting it for a long time and then finally receiving something that really did, in the end, please me to own. That's tough to achieve, I think.

Best and Worst Presents

I had an impromptu dinner with a friend the other night and said to her: "Oh, there was this great gift I didn't buy you today. It was a Lego Architectural series of the Empire State Building."

"That was a great gift not to get me." She said.

See my friend collects little metal buildings of icons like the Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, etc. Of course, these days she collects lots less of anything since she, too, moved into a small, downtown condo. And the Lego, though sleek and wonderful-looking was real off topic. (Not a metal souvenir. Something I might like better than she would, etc.) Collections can begat gifts like that. Gifts that are not, in and of themselves, stupid (like Billy Bass, but we aren't going to talk about bad gifts I've received) but just, well, not right for the person at the moment. I'd just given her the idea of the gift, a laugh. We aren't really exchanging gifts this year.

I've written before about gifts...here in the Journal of Unintended Consequences (a dormant blog I intend to revive any day now) and here in this blog about the economics of gifts.

Today I'm just talking about specific things that I remember giving or getting that were especially egregious or particularly wonderful for some reason.

Some wonderful gifts I've given: a laundry basket with pop-up legs; a check to a Junior College for an extension class in loom weaving; and some iPod Touches (this season); a very tiny loose leaf Filofax (in the pre-PDA and Smartphone era); a bunch of Nissan stainless commuter cups. I can't really remember too many others that worked out so well that I gave someone. It was just the right gift at the right time to the right person. Or so it seemed. I'm sure there have been others. And many of the opposite kind.

Some wonderful gifts I've received: many books I wanted or would have if I'd known they'd existed; a Buzz Lightyear room protector; a gadget with a handle that becomes legs to hold tennis ball waist-high and is a wire cage with the wires just far enough apart to compress a tennis ball and let it in and not out.

Some truly awful gifts I've given: a talking bathroom scale; a Melita drip coffee maker; various electronics (answering machine, VCR, etc.) to my in-laws who don't do well with technology. This year, though, they ask for TV ears and FFP bought them, charged them and set them up and it seems to be going over well.

Ah, well, money, gift certificates (although they can be to the wrong place or for the wrong thing) and booze (although, you know, the right booze and for a drinker) always seem to fit.

For a couple of years in the old (big) house, FFP and I would wrap up books for each other...that we found on the shelves in the house. There were often some pleasant surprises.

To say that gift giving is fraught with peril, or was in the days before the very specific on-line wish list, is an understatement. But I do like the look of gaily-wrapped gifts.

[Picture is from 2005 when we still lived in the 'big house.' No tree but a decorated glass and wrought iron table with presents on it.] There is a large, flat present in the foreground. What in the world was in there?]

It's The Cheat That Counts

Gift-giving is so fraught. You wrap something up in beautiful paper (or use those ever-handy gift sacks with some bright tissue) and you imbue some object with a duty to convey your love and respect. I quit taking gifts seriously a long while ago. When someone gives me something, I thank them and move on. I give my sister and her kids and grandkids money mostly and a few actual gifts that they very specifically ask for through wish lists. My dad sends birthday and Christmas checks to people. He and his sisters exchange these checks. Seems pointless to me.

I bought a couple of calendars at Book People the other day, those page-a-day things with different themes. One I intended for a friend. We often get together with a couple of other friends over the holiday and usually exchange small gifts. I had one of these calendars in mind for her. Then when we were talking on the phone the other day she said we shouldn't buy gifts this year if we did get together. I found another person to give the calendar to and I don't object to a 'no gifts' policy being established for any group of friends or relatives. I hope such things gain a wider foothold. I thought it was ironic that I'd already picked something when she said it, though.

FFP and I often ask at Christmas and birthdays: "What do you want?" Usually we just empower the other to go out and get whatever he/she wants. Yesterday he went out and bought a guitar. He bought a shirt the other day that he's been wearing a lot. (It's festive in a Christmas way with tasteful red and green plaid.) I told him what I wanted was for him to take my car for maintenance. I've been spending so much time at Dad's and hospitals that I haven't had time to go sit and wait for my car or be without my car. He's doing that for me today. I'm waiting at Dad's to help with lunch and watch his PT appointment. So he came out here and left his car and took mine to see if he could get scheduled maintenance, oil change and such done for me.

It feels like a gift having someone else do that car errand for me. There are a couple of physical 'things' I might like to have, too, but right now it just seems like too much trouble to get new things.

Between the Inevitable and the Immutable

I was not looking forward to going to Dad's today. I was getting out of the house to play tennis and so it made sense to go a bit further north and see after a few things for him though.

The other day I had to tell him his sister died. Not easy. Today I was just taking the obituary for him to read. (It had been sent as a scan via e-mail to me by a cousin.) Today I had to tell him how much he owed the tax man and how much he'd have to make in quarterly payments because he had an unusual bump in income. "I bet you get a refund next year if you live long enough." He allowed that he wouldn't pay the tax man until April. "Maybe I won't have to do it," he said. "Yeah, I'd have to do it." We joke like this all the time. We know that none of us live forever and none of us know when the time will come.

Death and taxes. The inevitable for us mortals. And even politicians have to die.

There was an old wives' tale that I always heard that your fingernails and toenails kept growing after you died. Then I read somewhere that it wasn't true. That the tissue around them shrank back and made it appear true. Whatever. I trimmed my dad's toenails for him. He'd soaked his feet to make it easier. He talked about the horse stepping on the one toe and how he'd had to stay off of it and so he had to stay inside and cook and wash dishes and strain milk, etc.

"I didn't have a crutch. Do you know what I did?"

I did, but I didn't say so.

"I used a straight chair and put my knee in it and moved around the house that way.

I gave my dad a book I bought for him about Iceland. He said he was going to spend the afternoon reading it. I also took him a bottle of champagne in a gift bag with a Valentine's Day Card signed from us and him. It is for his good friend Maja. She is from Iceland and, in fact, took my dad on a trip there. She gives him rides and meals. My sister and I call her 'the good daughter.'

While I was playing tennis and having a fine time on the muddy clay on a day the hard courts were dangerously slick when we started, I was kind of depressed about having to talk to my dad about death and taxes and trim his toenails because his back won't allow him to do it. (When he could still drive he went somewhere and got a pedicurist to do it. I think he went to a place he'd taken Mom for mani/pedi.) But when it was all done, I felt better. Dad wrote a check for the CPA cheerfully. He was pleased with his gift for Maja. And he was excited to have a new book that interested him to occupy his afternoon. (Actually it was only new to him. I bought it in the antiquarian book store on 12th Street.)

[Photo is a reflection in a shop on West Sixth. Thought of using it for the March theme day ('glass') for City Daily Photo, but I think I'll find another.]

Stuff of Another Era

I was combing through pictures and found this one from last year about this time at a flea market on Burnet Road. It caught my eye because of the typewriters and slide projectors. Hmmm...I think there are some of those somewhere in this house. Sigh. Right now I'm in an acquisitive mode. But the good news is that all of it is gifts for birthdays and Christmas. So it will be out of here soon. I did tell a few relatives some books that I'd like so there may be an influx of stuff for the holiday. Sigh.

Seeing typewriters is always a little nostalgic for me. I remember when owning a typewriter was a big deal and promised to make a writer out of me.

For the record, it has been easy to post a picture and a little text here every day. (My commitment to NaBloPoMo.) After all...I'm displacing from downsizing!

Jump Starting the Season

Before you could say 'boo' for Halloween, the merchants were trotting out Santa and offering free shipping for online purchases as they ran scared to their all-important season for sales. While it makes me upset to see the tinsel so early, the fact is that I always try to get a jump on the season. I have some November/December birthdays to get out of the way. And I like to ship things early to out-of-town relatives and get my holiday cards done. So I've already got the cards printed and now I just have to cleanse the mailing list, print labels, get stamps, stamp them, write a personal note on each one, etc. I have to get my family calendar updated and get that 'project' printed. And today I started buying those birthday and Christmas presents. Still. I wish they wouldn't put up the decorations so early.

The picture is from last year...with some of the Christmas 'toys' nestled in the glassware collection.

Recycling Christmas

Today's title is the Holidailies Writing Prompt. OK, what does this writing prompt actually mean?

As anyone who reads this probably knows this is my 28th day of Holidailies. The portal, so expertly run by Jette and Chip, provides access to lots of journals (blogs, online diaries, whatever) whose owners are trying to write every day from December 1 to January 1. They recruited a panel to read and nominate 'best of' entries. You can check out the sites as they are updated or from a listing that provides access to all the registered entries in a variety of ways. It's been a great bunch of reading for me. I even drifted away from my trusty old reads (Bunt Sign, MyBeloved Monster, Not Calm dot Com and Journal of a Writing Man) for a while although I did come back and catch up. (I found the Writing Man posting video, too.)

Anyway, back to the writing prompt. The aforementioned portal has another feature this year. Writing prompts. In case you really want to write but just can't get started. Contributors were encouraged to submit them. I did submit some. And now, here is one I submitted and I have no idea what to do with it.

Should I write about regifting? About reusing wrapping materials? About trotting out antique decorations that have a sentimental value? About making Christmas decorations out of old AOL CDs? About sending the live tree off to be mulched for Armadillo Dirt? (I don't have a live tree but the city picks up my yard waste for this.)

What I decided was to talk about a Christmas long ago. I'm going to say three decades ago. I can place it in time because my nieces were young, around six and eight. And yes they are 36 and 38 today. The whole immediate family (including my sister's family and my parents) came to Austin for Christmas which was a rare thing indeed. A bunch of us decided that it was going to be a 'secondhand' Christmas for exchanging gifts. Even some of the extended family got in on this. We were allowed to make a gift or give something we already owned or bought pre-owned (at a garage sale or secondhand place). It was a memorable Christmas. My old maid aunts sent me the Aluminum glasses they'd used for iced tea for decades and which I loved. I gave my nieces each a suede purse. The purses were given to my sister and I when we were small by one of our aunts. For some reason I'd kept both of them all those years. I bought secondhand books for my brother-in-law and Dad and wrapped them in maps I bought at the secondhand book store for a quarter. My in-laws got in on the spirit of the thing and gave my nieces some sparklers they bought at a garage sale for a nickel. The kids had the best time playing with those in the driveway with their father, safety Bill we called him, supervising.

The family has threatened for years to reinstate the secondhand Christmas where you make regifting an art. But we've never pulled it off. I still have the aluminum glasses, though. They remind me of that Christmas and of sitting in the back yard at my aunts' house (which was my favorite place as a kid) with a cool drink that was making beads of sweat on the metal glass. I never use them. But I haven't been able to get rid of them. The color is mostly worn away. But they are fraught with memory.

The Perfect Gift

Last year, Mercury, a gift shop on Second Street with an ever-changing array of wares sported this shop window at Christmas.

Let's face it...everyone wants to get it or give it: a perfect gift, beautifully wrapped. A suprise and yet 'just what I/you wanted.' Ninety-nine percent of the time, I think, gifts fall even flatter than our own purchases (which have a sad history of satisfaction themselves).

I love gift-giving. I'm not so keen on receiving things now. Which seems callous and selfish in a way. I was, as a child, quite caught up on the receiving end. I have wrestled with the issue over the years and recently in these pages.

My family's religious tradition is Christianity and we always heard about the gifts of the wise men. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. Who knew about the last two? Gold, pretty clear concept even to a kid. Turns out you can buy the gifts of the Magi online if you like. I guess that would be the 'perfect' gift.

I don't buy too many gifts these days and I secretly hope I don't receive too many. But I like any presents I do buy to have that enigmatic quality of surprise and yet perfection. How did you know? How could you not have known?

Needless to say, I rarely succeed. And I've rarely ripped off the paper and thought, "Wow. I wasn't expecting that, but it is so me!"

I wrote a monologue for a salon once, about getting gifts that you really, really want. I couldn't control the topic. It wanted to be a piece about possessions, being possessed by possessions, religion, holidays, gender-specific toys, gender-bias, the creative mind. It wanted to be a novel, a triology even, a memoir of a hundred-year-old person, a series of fables set to music like Wagner's ring. I had only a five to seven minute monologue, though, with a script I didn't follow printed on two sheets of paper, not quite full, and two props. A toy, an Erector set over forty years old and a Polaroid Land Camera 100 that I received over thirty years ago. The Erector Set had a picture on the front of a boy in a plaid shirt launching a plastic rocket from his metal girder creation. It still has it as a matter of fact. The very set is in the spare room, collecting dust, with a motor that no longer works. Truth is, I have the camera, too, stuck in a closet somewhere. These things were so important to me that I haven't been able to give them up. Soon I will, though. I hope.

I have been posting every day in Holidailies and hoping to receive a 'best of' nod from the reader's panel. I started this entry because the writing prompt of the day is "A gift that didn't disappoint. "I was just sitting here, reviewing my notes for that monologue and looking at my pictures of childhood things and thinking what I could write. Too many things are flooding my brain. Boy...that writing prompt really did it for me if the hope was to get words to spill out. Then I realized (what is it we always say 'to my chagrin?') that I suggested the writing prompt. That took the wind out of my sails somehow. And brought me back to my first thought when I saw the prompt (and failed to look at the link under 'suggested by').

The fish umbrella. It wasn't Christmas. It was my birthday. Which is the same day as a friend of mine's birthday, only I'm a year older. It was 2001 (the last year my mother was alive and not in the hospital on my birthday). We were celebrating at Mom and Dad's house here in Austin. I must have given my friend a present. But I don't remember what it was. But she gave me the fish umbrella. A fine Italian umbrella with a handle with a fish motif. I love that umbrella. I've made sure not to lose it so far.

Well, I'm weary of the topic now. Is there Holidailies recognition for writing the most writing prompts? Because I'm winning. Unless you count Jette and I don't because she's making the selections.