Making a list...

Well the Christmas shopping is not quite done. I very cleverly managed to do most of the shopping on line and I scored a major coup for my daughter's gift. It's ever more difficult to find something meaningful for her as the years go by.

When I left her Dad, I literally fled in the night on the clothes on my back and had to start from scratch. I waited until she left home but I should have thought it out more I suppose, because this meant I couldn't help her through her college years as a good parent should. She effectively put herself through school and is now much more successful than I'll ever hope to be. There's nothing I can get her that she needs that she can't get for herself and there's not much that she really wants that she can't find on her own. Thus my excitement in having the found the perfect gift.

There is a very particular brand of ice tea mix that we can't get here in the south. The only place they distribute it in our stomping grounds up north. After dicking around with the manufacturer to no avail, guess they only want to deal with grocery stores, I finally called the Stop & Shop I used to frequent in Noho and talked them into sending me two cases of the stuff. She'll be able to take a bath in it if she wants to now. (Note to my Happy Valley readers - patronize Stop & Shop, they could not have been more accomodating. They totally rock.)

Meanwhile though it's the last real shopping day left and I still have nothing for the son-in-law and more importantly I don't have an angel. I can't break that tradition after all these years so I'm biting the bullet and heading to the mall. Luckily, we have a very small one story mall fairly close by that only has about a dozen stores in it. I should be able to find what I need there. Having run out of inspiration on the son-in-law's gift I'm going to the specialty food shop and get my usual standby - insanely expensive Italian olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I figure they might have some imported ornaments there as well. I suppose I should start an ornament tradition for the tyke as well. I'm not sure what his theme should be. I'm leaning towards trains or snowmen.

So I took a tranq so I could deal with the rude crowds and I'm off. I'll be back soon I hope.