Christmas 2013

It’s almost eight o’clock on Christmas Eve morning and I’ve just returned from Dulles airport and dropping LFG and her mom off for their flight to Florida. This was my year to have LFG for the Christmas break but being the accommodating piñata guy that I am, I relented and sent my baby to Florida for fun and frolic versus Florence where it will be a bit more of a vigil. Shut up.

So LFG and I had our Christmas present fun last night…And while the “still believes in Santa” excitement is long gone, the fun and fellowship with a young adult daughter is a new kind of bliss. It is. And luckily everything that I was directed to procure for our gal was available online and in the correct sizes and colors so my gift gathering was easy. There was no ambiguity regarding what my young’un wanted. Including this calf-foot-leg stretcher thang that dancers use to accomplish the aforementioned. And my gal has turned into a serious dancer so she needs seriously damn expensive contraptions like this one. Alas.

Vans tennis shoes? Yep. These things were popular in the late 70’s, no? And hers had to be this particular color and in the low-profile, non-clunky version seen here. Precision in preference. I have no freakin’ clue where this proclivity comes from. Shut…

A young girl’s grooming and beauty book. I read the reviews on it and it’s solid. None of this “let’s focus on what’s wrong with your body and make you yearn to be something you aren’t” caca here. Cosmopolitan magazine has a rapier focus on making women feel inadequate and yearning for more-different-better. We’re trying to avoid that over here. With one exception…

LFG wanted better-different Hunter boots. Plus, her foot is still growing and her purple Hunters from two Christmases ago are a bit snug. And yes, she got more of those inserts to go in them. These are cable knit topped. Yep.

But the big difference is the fat racing stripe on the back. This my friends is a game changer. It's all about fuzzy nuance and this is after all...my daughter. Bam!

So on to my goods. LFG took special delight in watching me unwrap my James and the Giant Peach DVD. She and I read and re-read Dahl’s book a zillion times when she was little. It’s one of our favorites and we even talked about writing a sequel together.

J. McLaughlin socks, a Barnes and Noble gift card and a cool pocket square. I’ll wear the socks and square if for no other reason than my daughter picked them out.

The best J. Mc. gift might indeed be the wool foulard scarf. I can’t describe the texture adequately but it’s kinda spongy. I’m going back after Christmas to see what other versions they might have of it and if they’re on sale, I might snag another one. Yes, it's that fuzzy.

But the epic gift that I of course arranged procurement was this set of little lead soldiers...Heyde Pensioners. This almost one hundred year old set of pot-bellied caricature soldiers is rare to the point of non-existence. I’d never seen them in situ before…having only gandered photos from an auction two years ago where a boxed set of these went for crazy money. LFG Dad was able to snag these for a considerably lower price. 

But not that much lower. I can rationalize anything. Shut up.

Christmas Morning

I began this story yesterday morning but had to hit the road before I finished it. I’m now home with my mom—where I should be and it’s humbling and instructive to once again be in her service. We had a nice Christmas Eve visit and today my brother will do the Christmas cooking. My mom is sweet and is as appreciative to be here for another Christmas as we are to have her. But last night when I was setting up my Christmas tree that I bought down for her and I wasn't doing things freakin' exactly like she would do it, she told me that I had the patience of a rattlesnake. I told her to zip it…or I’d make her sleep in her wheelchair. Kidding.

Onward. Smokin’ one of those little baby cigars from my new cigar box Christmas ornament.

And rattlin'.

ADG-Two