The Hat and the iPad

Avery sitting with most of the Christmas presents I made.

A couple of days before one of my family Christmas get-togethers, I grabbed any available box I could find so I could wrap my handmade crocheted items and jewelry gifts. I was running out of options, though, so I grabbed my old iPad box for Avery’s gift, forgetting about the story I’d heard only days before:

10-year-old Audrey, Avery’s sister, had a broken iPad and she asked Buddy, the family’s Elf-on-the-Shelf, if he could fix it. Miraculously the next morning, the iPad was fixed!

4-year-old Avery, upon learning about how Buddy had fixed her sister’s iPad wondered out loud, “How come Buddy didn’t fix my iPad?” Mom and Dad exchanged glances. Avery’s iPad was graveyard material – waaaaaaay beyond the repair stage. 

Soooo, when Avery opened her gift from me, she exuberantly exclaimed, “I got an iPad?!” She was practically dancing in her seat.

She ripped open her present and found – a hat, a hand-crocheted hat. Biggest letdown ever, but trooper that she is, she didn’t complain. From other family members, however, I heard, “Way to go, Grandma, break a little girl’s heart!”

Oh, yeah, uh oh, I forgot.

Oops!

That event occurred on December 19th. A couple of days later, a little girl approached Avery’s dad when he was working a couple of towns away, and asked him if he wanted to purchase a raffle ticket for – some organization – I can’t remember what (there goes that memory again). He did, and then he forgot about it. (I’m not the only one who forgets.)

A couple of days later somebody knocked on the door to my grandkids’ home and when my son-in-law opened it, he found a stranger standing on his front step, holding a package for him. 

“You won the raffle!” 

So on Christmas morning, when Avery opened her presents and found another iPad box (I laugh just thinking about it), I wonder what went through her head. Would she ever again be able to trust that what she was about to open was a fair representation of what was depicted on the outside of the box, or was this another form of deception? I wonder if she asked herself, “Am I getting another hat?”

Afterword: When I met with a few more grandchildren a couple of days later, I made sure to write a message on the outside of their boxes: “Don’t be deceived by the packaging.” Good thing, because not knowing that one of my grandsons had broken his phone, I had folded his scarf inside an old Walmart phone box.

It's the Season to be Charlie!

The week between Christmas and New Year three of my grandchildren were visiting their father (my son) in Virginia, so I didn't get much time to spend with them. 

The youngest, Zac, is still in the holiday spirit though, and when I arrived at his home this morning, he spent the whole morning singing "Deck the Halls!"

However, his version is a little different from the version I remember – "'tis the season to be jolly" – Zac's version is, "It's the season to be Charlie!"

If he only knew…

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Surprises in Small Packages – My Hilarious Christmas Present

Celebrating Christmas with my son and his family is a rare occasion, so when the opportunity arose this year allowing me to spend Christmas with Greg and his family, I was thrilled – a bittersweet thrill, because it meant I couldn't spend Christmas with the rest of my family, but I had missed so many years of Greg being gone to Japan and Iraq (4 times) and other parts of the world, I really couldn't pass up the invitation.

(As much as I would love to spend holidays with the entire family, the likelihood that all of us will ever get to spend the holidays in one place at one time again is pretty slim – though I am hopeful).

Anyway, here I was, having Christmas with my son and his family, watching them open gifts, taking videos and pictures, when my son and daughter-in-law told me how sorry they were that I didn't have a gift to open.

I didn't care. I didn't really want anything, but they had already ordered something for me – it just hadn't arrived yet, so Michelle showed me an online picture of my gift – a pair of boots. I like the sweater look in boots, so I was already looking forward to getting the gift I told them I didn't want.

The funny thing about my shoe size is that I can wear a 3 in children size or a 4 and a half in adult size. Finding adult shoes in my size, though, is nearly impossible.

Michelle explained to me that she couldn't get the boot in a 4 and a half, so she got me a size 5. Because of my persistently swollen right foot (since November, 1999), size 5 is more comfortable for my right foot anyway. I just have to be careful not to fall out of my left shoe.

I was surprised she was able to find it in a size 5 since most stores, including online stores, don't usually carry sizes that small, but I was fairly certain that if one existed, Michelle would be able to find it. Now I really was looking forward to the expected deliver date of December 28th.

Everybody, especially Kaden, was eagerly awaiting my gift arrival day. When my gift arrived, we opened the box and found the size 5 boots (see in photo above). Good things really do come in small packages, and this one came with a surprise.

Who knew how many different size 5 boots we could order? Look at my beautiful brand new baby boots!

P.S. HUGE CONFESSION – After all of my chemo infusions, I started taking a chemo pill every day, which, along with the weather, has contributed to my skin becoming so cracked and dried and my nails so brittle, I had to give myself a Photoshop pedicure and a smooth-tool brush around my toes to cover up the unsightly areas of my foot. I missed some areas, but nobody ever gave me any awards for my Photoshop skills. (Admit it – aren't you impressed by the color match between the boots and the fake nail polish?) By the way, we took back the boots.

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Our Nontraditional Christmas 2010

Greg, Kaden, Michelle, Zac, and Taylor (back and center) on Staten Island Ferry.

The Statue of Liberty through the snow.

Kaden playing with pigeons outside the New York Pizza place.

Christmas in New York – sounds glamorous, doesn't it? We didn't start off in New York, though, because after the kids spent most of Christmas Eve and part of Christmas morning opening their presents, with lots of excitement, I might add, the six of us (my son, his wife, their three children, and I) left Virginia and headed north.

The first place we stopped was in Central Park for a carriage ride. Though it was dark and cold, the ride was really fun. We saw hundreds of ice skaters skating on a rink in Central Park. I couldn't help but wonder how good they must all be, because if even one of them fell, a domino effect was likely to occur – but everybody skated around counter-clockwise at a reasonably fast pace, and from the time I noticed them until the time I couldn't see them anymore, everyone was still skating.

Busy busy city – New York streets were bustling with activity, apparently mostly due to the entire city rushing to see the famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

I'd like to interrupt this blog right here to discuss the drivers in New York City. Visitors need to know that rules that apply in other cities around the country do not apply in New York. Even my three-year-old grandson, Zac, was confused as he insisted, "Green means stop. Red means go."

Pedestrians were oblivious to the cars around them. The "walk-don't walk" alert might as well have read, "gobbledygook." We had to crawl through traffic – wait, I'm sure New York has another term for traffic – maybe it's standstill. Whatever.

We finally made our way to the magnificent Christmas tree, but we couldn't find a parking space, so, since we were just crawling by anyway, we stared at the mammoth tree from the street, which was great, because that gave us a good half hour to view the tree from inside the car.

"The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree," according to the Rockefeller web site, "is a world-wide symbol of the holidays in New York City. The tree, traditionally a Norway Spruce, is illuminated by 30,000 environmentally friendly LED lights on five miles of wire, and crowned by a Swarovski crystal star. Tens of thousands crowd the sidewalks for the event and hundreds of millions watch the Tree Lighting Ceremony broadcast live across the globe."

Wikipedia says the Norway spruce is anywhere from 69 to 110 feet tall and has been put up every year, with the exception of 1932, since 1931.

Anyway…

Next stop after we drove through Times Square? Christmas Dinner. But first we had to find the hotel in Queens to get our room. GPS couldn't find it. Nobody at the hotel answered the phone when Michelle called, and the online feature was inaccessible while we drove through several neighborhoods that offered no phone service???????? In New York?????????

Anyway, we finally made it to the hotel and looked around for an open restaurant on Christmas. Closed. Closed. Closed. Closed.

OH, WAIT! There's one! A Japanese restaurant where adults pay a mere $30/plate, and children pay $15/plate! Ridiculous. We drove on.

The ONLY place that was open was a combination Baskin Robbins/Dunkin' Donuts. And so, on Christmas day, my son, his family, and I, had donuts for dinner with ice cream for dessert. (I would have taken and posted a photo, but my son and his wife refused to allow me to take one.)

The next day we rode the Staten Island ferry, had some New York pizza (not bad, but I prefer Chicago pizza), and drove home through a blizzard.

All in all, it was a memorable experience, and I got to spend it with my son and his family, with whom I rarely spend Christmas, so I was really happy.

Next year? Who knows? Whether I'm sitting at my own dining room table eating Christmas dinner or standing in line at a Taco Bell, as long as I'm with family, I'll be happy.

FUN and FUNNY games!

I had to tell my kids this year that we were going to have to cut back on gifts for Christmas. Money has been grim, so I've been looking online for family video games as gifts for my kids and grandkids. I used to give each person his or her own gift, but with four kids, three spouses, ten grandchildren, two more spouses, and two great grandchildren, I'm pretty much tapped out in the finance department, so this year, everybody gets a "family" gift. Well, except for the unmarried ones among the group.

Two of my kids have Wiis, so, not knowing which video games they already have, I thought I would let them pick out the one they want me to get for their family gifts, something that everybody in the family would enjoy playing. I found a great resource for VIDEO GAMES and this blog is my way of asking Greg (and his family) and Brittney (and her family) to click the link. Please tell me which game you want. They have lots of other games too, though, so if you want a Playstation III game or an XBox 360, I'll get you one of those instead.

And now a gift for Lindsey. I know, Linz, you already have my Christmas present, but this one is free and it's lots of fun. I think you'll enjoy it. And it fits in so well with why you're going to school.

Lindsey is my second oldest daughter who loved playing dress up games even when she was a baby. Every morning she went into my closet, examined my little scattering of shoes, and always picked out the same pair (I had only two classy shoe styles – she preferred the brown straps to my decade old black and gold 70's platform shoes). She would then gather her bracelets, necklaces, crown, and rings, and parade around the house in her pajama top and diaper. Very cute. Well, I just found the perfect online dress up game for her.

This online dress up game is fun and FUNNY! Well, funny for me – fun for Lindsey. You see, I have no fashion sense whatsoever, so when I tried to play dress up games, I lost miserably. Lindsey is going into fashion merchandising (she didn't get that talent from me obviously), so I'm sure she will do much better than I did. And it won't cost me a penny, because this Dress Up Game is free (click the link). She can even play it at work during down time (don't show this to your boss, Lindsey).

I even found a game I like to play (I love skills games and brain games – they have both, and LOTS more). You can find so many games on this site.

Keeley and her family don't have a computer, so I'm saving this blog for her when she makes trips to the library (do they let you play games at the library?) – if so try any of those links above.

While I wasn't necessarily looking for anything specific for my parents or siblings, I came across something I know one of my sisters will LOVE. I can't tell you why. No, I'm not trying to be evasive. Let's just say that Cindy has been setting up a web site that concerns beauty, and I found something she may want to use to connect to her site that offers beauty information for her visitors. Cindy, check out this BEAUTY INFORMATION site – they offer skin care analysis, hair care consultation, a fragrance finder, and even (you know I love this) a beauty horoscope. Plus they offer expert advice, so I think it will make a great link for the site. I promise to tell everybody the name of her site when it is up and running. For now, though, it's a secret.

That was my "hook" to get you to come back to my blog. Will it work? I hope so.

Oh! No! Christmas and More Birthdays Are Coming!

One of my grandsons loves his sister's tooter. For those of you unfamiliar with toddler speak, I am referring to a scooter. So when I looked online to find a boy "tooter," I came across a website with LOTS of ride-on toys, including wagons and rocking horses. Then, while I was on that same web site, I found something called, "Roller Racers" and "Plasma Cars." I love toys that involve some sort of exercise. And when you combine exercise with fun, all the better! Look HERE for more of those kinds of toys.

Of course, every time I think of toys, I think of my grandchildren. With so many birthdays every year, not to mention Christmas in less than four months, I decided to look now for an October birthday gift for one of my granddaughters. What I found though, was something I would have loved to have had as a child – a doll house.

I remember going to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (I lived down the street) and seeing this amazing doll house with so many intricate details in each room, from paintings on the wall to tiny cups on a serving tray. I wanted it to fit in my house. My dad refused to open the ceiling though, so I had to suffer my whole childhood without that dollhouse. But oh, how I would have loved to have had any of the ones found HERE.

And lest I forget my older grandchildren, I can't overlook electronic toys, so I found several possibilities HERE. I even found one some adults might like – an "American Idol All Star Challenge DVD Game" and a portable DVD player. The best thing though, for those of us with limited incomes, is that everything I've looked at so far is reasonably priced.

Now to look into getting that scooter!

How Sushi Became an iPhone

Every year as a combination birthday/Christmas present, my son and his family fly me out to visit them in Oceanside, California. Usually, because my daycare job doesn't allow me to stay longer than a weekend, I am there for only 3 days at the most. This year, however, I was lucky enough to spend 5 days with them!

I've missed a lot of my son's life over the years. As a U.S. Marine who was born in Illinois (where I live) and who is now living in California, Greg was stationed in North Carolina and has been to Japan (for a year), to Thailand (for several months), to Iraq (four times), and to Kuwait (twice) – so whenever I am given the opportunity to spend time with him and his family, it never matters what we do, where we go, what we eat – what matters is that I am spending time with him and with them.

One night we were discussing what to eat for dinner and everybody (I thought) decided on Chinese. Fine by me. As I said, it doesn't matter to me where we eat or what we eat.

So when we pulled in front of a sushi restaurant, I thought, hmm, well, I must have missed this part of the conversation. I've never had sushi, but if this is what the family has decided, I'll try it. Greg was the only one to get out of the car, so I assumed we were picking up the sushi (and not the Chinese) and taking it home.

Then Greg asked me if I wanted to go with him. Well, yeah – anything to spend time together, even if it's just picking up sushi from the local sushi stop. But as I was getting out of the car Michelle warned, "You'd better bring your purse. You'll need your ID."

Oh, OK. They NEVER ask me to pay for anything and, as a matter of fact, REFUSE to allow me to pay for anything, so I was more than willing to foot the bill for dinner. But why would I need an ID to purchase it?

Well, come to think of it, this IS California, and I've heard that sometimes people die from eating sushi, so maybe the state of California is keeping track of who is eating it.

Yes, I really do think that way.

But we walked past the sushi restaurant and into a store that sells iPhones. What? We're not eating sushi?

No, we're getting you an iPhone. Their reason for giving me an extra present was that they were "paying me" to watch the kids. I don't think I'm senile (though I'm sure somebody in my family would argue with me about that). I honestly don't remember ever doing anything that would require them to pay me for doing it.

So this is my reasoning: I take the kids to the park and I get an iPhone. What would they give me if I took the kids to the zoo? A laptop? Or how about a trip to Disneyland? My own plane?

Still this is the greatest toy ever (besides my computer)! And I am so grateful to them for receiving it.

So – Greg, Michelle, Taylor, Kaden, and Zac, thank you thank you thank you – for the trip, for always making me feel welcome, and for giving me another way to keep in touch with you.

Photo of sushi is from Wikimedia Commons. Photo of iPhone is from Apple.