‘Tis the Season

It’s that time of year again. The time when someone in your home will get sick, be it a cold or the flu. In this case, the someone is me. I have been fighting a cold for a while now, and in retrospect, I should have let it take its course so I wouldn’t be sick on Christmas Day. But I never claimed my hindsight was 20/20, so I have that going for me.

Today I have last minute shopping to do. That should tell you just how sick I am, because normally nothing would make me go to the mall this week. The way I see it, I got sick from someone while shopping, so I’m just paying it forward. I can be very charitable that way. All kidding aside (or mostly kidding), after shopping I shall be enjoying a hot toddy, featured today at H&B.

Then after that, I shall be imbibing (there really is no other word for it) Nyquil™. There is nothing quite like the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine. Hopefully that will help me have a nice Christmas.

My future posts may be quite garbled, but that’s a small price to pay for comfort 😉

All I Want For Christmas

The other day, Hubby and I were chatting through Skype™ when he asked me a most unusual question.

What do you want for Christmas??

I drew a blank.

You see, Hubby stopped shopping for Christmas waaaaaaaay back in 1994. That’s when he married me, see? So since I would do the shopping, most of the time I would also shop for myself. Not always, and he does a good job when he shops for me. But since he is in the middle of a desert, it’s hard for him to actually go shopping, even online. So the fact that he asked me threw me for a loop. I have a gift for quick recovery, though. So, without further ado, here’s my list of Things I Want For Christmas, But Will Probably Not Get™:

1. A Kindle Fire™.
2. Hubby home early.

That’s pretty much it. I can’t think of any other material things that I really want. But Hubby home early would be perfect.

Anyone have Santa’s email address?? 😉

The German Pickle

I have a quandary. This being a Hungarian-Puerto Rican family here, we obviously observe a faux German tradition*. We are extremely hoi polloi here. Anyway, tradition holds that you hang a green pickle ornament on the tree on Christmas Eve, and whichever child finds it, gets a special gift.

Found here!

This year, a complaint was filed by Little One against this so-called tradition. You see, her sister is 5′ 8″, and her brother 5′ 10″, and she is still in the “Pocket Venus” range of 5′ 2″, putting her mad searching skillz at a disadvantage. In her opinion, such a tradition is severely biased against the shortest member of the family and, as such, should be banned.

I told her this is the Empire of Aggie™, and the ACLU has no jurisdiction here.

She wisely relented, but asked that I give consideration to her plight, which translated means that she whined until I told her to shut it. But since they all want a shot at the special gift, I have decided that the pickle shall be hidden somewhere in the living room, giving everyone even odds of finding it.

And giving me peace and quiet around here 🙂

*It is celebrated here in the US as a German tradition, but oddly, my friends in Germany have never heard of it, and I found no stories in Bavaria to account for it.

No Coal For YOU!

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time when people everywhere are scrambling around to get their Christmas gift shopping done before the inevitable “What did you get me??” moment sets in. There is nothing attractive about someone with a deer-in-the-headlights look on their face. Especially when it’s your significant other who should know better by now.

Moving on (before a tirade sets in), here is a gift guide for the holiday that will hopefully make things easy….well, easier….ok, not get anyone in trouble.

As a general rule, women hate getting clothing for Christmas, unless they get to pick it out themselves. Sometimes our significant others tend to buy the wrong size. This is a losing situation for them: too small, and we cry about needing a bigger size, or too big, and we cry because they think we are fat. But PJs are different!! The only thing men have to remember is what kind to get. Trust me, you do not want to get a hankie with straps at Victoria’s Secret when your beloved prefers 7 oz weight flannel.

Or vice versa.

Anyway, you can’t go wrong with a PajamaGram. They have beautiful PJs in different styles, and all of them come in a sweet hatbox. You can even have the PJs personalized.

Comfy and cute! And warm…very warm!! And you can wear these all day. Total win!!

Another good gift to give is the gift of scent. Trust me when I say that a woman is more apt to be impressed by a bottle of perfume than by a car deodorizer, ok? However, a man can’t just pick something willy-nilly and think he’s going to get kudos. Tresór by Lancôme may be the second best selling perfume in the world, but that doesn’t mean it will smell like it on her skin. Perusing her vanity table and paying attention to what she wears is crucial here. If that isn’t a possibility, then go out of this world to get her something special!

Zen perfume was synthesized from the scent of roses that were sent up to the space station. Turns out, the scent of roses change when in zero gravity. Yes, I want to grow roses in zero gravity now. What??

Of course, some of y’all will just be too terrified about picking the wrong thing, be it clothing or perfume. In this case I say, go for the bling. Jewelry never fails, as long as it’s not a gangster emblem hanging from a huge chain. That’s just tacky. Necklaces and bracelets are always a safe bet, because you don’t need to know sizes for rings, or if she has pierced ears (you should know these things by now, but I will cut you some slack here). A very popular trend right now is the charm bracelet. Some, like Pandora™ and Trollbeads™, tend to be very pricey, but there are other options that are more affordable, like Brighton. They have a huge selection of charms, which makes making a unique personalized bracelet very easy.

Just remember to pay attention to her favorite things, and you can’t go wrong!

Hope you enjoyed shopping with Aggie. The next installment will be Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Also known as Valentine’s Day 😉

At Dawn We Slept

Seventy years ago today, what was then the Empire of Japan attacked our Naval base at Pearl Harbor, waking us up to the reality that isolationism was no longer an option. In all, 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. The largest casualties were borne by the U.S.S. Arizona, which lost 1,177 Americans.

With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounded determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God. — President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Oil still weeps like tears on the water, and I am reminded to keep an eternal vigilance against all enemies, those that shout, and those who keep their silence as they plot to strike against us.

Oh, Christmas Tree….

How lovely are your branches? Well, it depends, really. Growing up in a very small town in the mountains of Puerto Rico, we didn’t have access to Christmas pine trees, so my mom would decorate whatever potted tree she had not transplanted yet with those wonderful gaudy multi-colored Christmas lights, and some mirrored ornaments. We girls didn’t care what ornaments and lights were on it, as long as mom and dad lit that sucker up at night, turning off all the lights in the living room so we could sit and STARE at the colorful spectacle. Those were some lovely nights.

Once we moved to Texas, though, my mom decided the tree was going to be a decorator vehicle. Everything matched, and while it was beautiful every year, I still missed the days of just the big bulb lights and glass ornaments. Once I was married, though, I would be more artistic with the tree, even to the point of not having a tree at all, using a huge broken branch to hold ornaments one year. And then I got into the mom rut: making a well-matched tree. And so was the pattern established, until I read this post at Innocent Bystanders.

So, I’m digging out all of my Star Trek™ ornaments, and the mismatched glass balls, and the multi-colored lights, and the crappy fuzzy tinsel garland, and every single ornament the kids have made since they started school, and I will let the kids throw it together the way they like it.

Because I want them to sit in a darkened house, looking up at the Christmas tree in wonder, the same way I did.

Things I Learned This Thanksgiving

No Thanksgiving is ever the same in our family. But here are some things I learned this time around:

1. My family prefers apple pies over cherry or pumpkin. They are heretics.
2. Baking the turkey in an oven bag is a lifesaver.
3. A turkey STILL only has two drumsticks, so do a lottery next time to determine who gets them.
4. Avoiding the “What the hell is that supposed to mean??” question will make for a very peaceful day.
5. It is perfectly acceptable to lay about in a comatose state. It is also acceptable to rise from comatose state to get more food to further enhance the comatose state.

I hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now I am off to the mall with the girls.

Prayers are welcome 😉

Not Quite the White Rabbit

But as usual, I’m running late around here.

Today I have to clean the bathrooms and reorganize the unholy mess that exploded upstairs craft area before I go down to pick up my folks. Oh, and the pumpkin? It was too small, and the cardstock would not adhere well to it, so no Great Pumpkin™ for the table this year. It’s just as well, since we are having a turkey, a ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, cranberry relish, and three pies and a cobbler. There won’t be any room on the table to eat, much less decorate.

Oh, and I never shop on Black Friday, so I shall have time to make this:

Maybe…. as long as my mom is shopping with my sister 😀

Checking It Twice

I know, I know…. it’s still early for Christmas. But not too early to make the Christmas List™!! It used to be rather simple to write down the names and pick a random toy to go along with it. But kids are teens and young adults now, and adults are the ones wanting the toys. And of course, there’s always that someone that’s always difficult to shop for. So, I tend to start early in the year to figure out what to get everyone, but I don’t sit down and do the actual list until the week of Thanksgiving. That way I have a bit of leeway in case I change my mind, or if someone drops a hint.

They always drop a hint…

Hubby claims to have a very, very hard time trying to give me a Christmas gift. He usually ends up telling me to get what I want, which leaves the whole surprise out of the equation.

Honestly, I don’t know what is so hard about gifting me knives or ordnance.

Or bling 😉

The Countdown Begins

It’s less than a week until Thanksgiving! I am very lucky to have one sister live up the street. We get to co-ordinate large gatherings with family more easily, and thus avoid the headaches associated with one cooking for many.

This year, she will be making the ham, and the neighbor the turkey, leaving me with the sidedishes and one dessert. Now, I tend to be a bit more adventurous when it comes to food, and a bit less traditional, too. I was all jazzed about trying a new recipe I had found for a cranberry chutney, when my sister spoke up:

Sis: A what?

Me: A cranberry chutney. It has pineapples and pecans and a bit of cayenne–

Sis: No.

Me: What do you mean, “No”??

Sis: I mean no fancy stuff. Just get the jelly stuff in a can.

Me:………… what??

Sis: It has to be eaten, so get what regular people like.

Me:………..

Yes, she actually said regular people. But I figured she had a point, microscopic as it was, and let it be. After all, Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful, and I’m very grateful for all I have.

Besides, She didn’t say anything about dessert!! 😉