Yes, yes, yes, we all know the story - busy roads, crowded malls, uncertainty as to what to buy for people we only see during the winter holidays. While we have these stressors, those of us who are fortunate also receive wonderful gifts, indulge in delightful meals, and make it a point to spend time with loved ones near and far.
This year I was smart enough to prepare my list in October. I developed a beautifully efficient Excel workbook to help me through the 2006 holiday season. On one tab, I had ever so carefully planned who I was going to send Holiday cards to – one column for family – one column for friends – and a column for co-workers. I also color coded the cells according to the types of cards I was sending – Merry Christmas (religious), Merry Christmas (commercialized), Happy Holidays, Thinking of You This Special Time of Year … yadda ya. And I also was keen enough to use a color for those whom I needed to obtain addresses for. I’d like to give madd props to www.whitepages.com – the site that provided me with 70% of my missing address information.
The second tab of my wonderful workbook contained my gift ideas. It worked well for most people – but like others, I had a few who I just couldn’t figure out what to buy for until I hit the shops. Of course, there were individuals (Jus and Mia particularly) who will receive much more than I had originally intended. I will be sure to include how much I spent on everyone so that next year I will have guideline to follow in regard to budgeting.
This year I took advantage of online shopping. I am HUGE proponent of online shopping. There were few items I purchased in stores this year. I would like to thank Experian for partnering with clients to provide employees with discounts – it came in handy with my www.winecountrygiftbaskets.com purchase. I would like to thank Macy’s, Sears, Amazon, Victoria’s Secret and LL Bean for their realistic free shipping offers (which I took advantage of). Some companies offered free shipping but required a minimum purchase of $175+.
For those of you who are absolutely stumped, I highly recommend checking out www.popcornpalace.com - Delectable delights ideas are all over that site.
Another suggestion I have is what I am doing for my parents and Aunt Linda (I can talk about this online because they don’t check my website – heck, Linny doesn’t even have a computer). Anyway, I am putting together Italian gift baskets for them. I picked up Italian breadsticks, herbed oils for dipping, penne pasta (whole wheat for Linny), vodka sauce, parmesan cheese, chocolate flavored coffee, Italian cookies, and a bottle of red wine. Bottom line – you cannot go wrong with consumables. Hmmm – I think I may even pick up a pesto sauce for each.
Even though Michael and I agreed not to get each other gifts because we purchased the new 46” LCD TV in October as “out Christmas gift to each other,” I still bought him a ton of stuff. And here it is - December 20th and I still feel like I need to buy more. Why is that?! It’s not like I only bought him a couple of $10 tee shirts … and yet, I still feel the need to get more … Most likely I will pick up some
Godiva chocolates and a couple trinkets for his stocking and leave it at that.
The events of the month have been quite fun and interesting.
We started the month with a visit to Valentine’s on the 1st to check out Andy’s Ween/ Floyd cover band – The Pink Weeners. They were okay … a little too crunchy for my liking – but I gotta show support to Andy (I love you, Andy!!).
Then we attended the Tech9 concert on the 2nd. My drink choice of the evening was raspberry Stoli with Red Bull and a shot of grenadine for color. They were delicious. Two of them were all I needed. Elise and I were called on stage to perform - ha.
It was a wonderful evening, that is – until Ryan and Mike decided to bring some stray girl from Schenectady back to our house. Needless to say, I was quite pissed. Don’t worry though – I gave her a proper goodbye by saying “who is bringing this whore home – she has to go RIGHT NOW” (right in front of her). Fortunately, Ryan immediately brought her back to his place, where they spent quality time together, until she lost her cookies in the bathroom – and stayed passed out on the bathroom floor until the next morning.
The following morning Andy, Crandall, Ryan and I played a lovely game of Scrabble. Andy whooped our asses.
The Globalspec holiday party at Cornell’s Restaurant in Schenectady was a good time. There was a good turnout. I was delighted to see my lambs, Ryan, Shawn, Ted, Vinny, Terrah, Manning, and Kat.
A couple of days later, Mike and I tried Villa Valenti in West Sand Lake/ Averill Park. The food was outstanding – however our waitress Jody totally sucked ass. The broad made us wait at LEAST 30 minutes before even taking our drink order. Her attentiveness was lacking, and her attitude was that of we were burdening her by being there. Since we heard such wonderful things about the place, we sucked it up and hoped for the best with our dishes – and it was worth it. So I would like to send my compliments to the chef and tell Jody to piss off and find a more suitable job or make it a point to be a better waitress.
Last Friday, we checked out Andy’s band – Upon Arival. They were really good. The instrumentals in the band were phenomenal! I learned later that evening that the lead singer was 20-years old. She was pretty good. She seemed to do way better at the harder parts than the easy pieces. She was flat in parts, but NEVER cracked or sounded totally terrible. Overall I’d say madd props, Kristen! P.S. Buy some diamond studs – they’ll add to your stage presence (they’ll compliment your cartilage earring quite nicely).
Tomorrow Lauren and I are planning on grabbing some dinner then checking out the lights in Washington Park in Albany. I saw them from afar a couple of weeks ago. They looked spectacular from a distance – so I am sure they will be dazzling up close. I also have my Winter Solstice Pot Luck Luncheon at work. I volunteered to make a Dutch Apple Pie and to bring soda. I have the soda already and I will be preparing the pie tonight. =)
We recently had our annual LaViolette Christmas party at my Grandmother’s house in the Berkshires. Most of the family was there – in fact, I think the only one who was missing was Billy. Even Aunt Patti and Randy from Miami were there. Like always, it was a great time.
... There was one “fubar” that I made in the avenue of purchasing gifts for one of the Twinsies. I thought I was doing well by emailing Erin (their mom) and asking what they were into for Christmas. Knowing they just had their 5th birthday, I wanted to be sure I didn’t get them something they already had. Well my bad – I never asked if what I got was okay – or if what I was planning on purchasing was okay.
Erin told me that Nick is into memory games and matching games – great – I Spy the Memory Game it is. Nate is into building things and taking them apart. No problem –Magnetix look wicked cool. Well, the boys were itching for their presents, so I handed them each their gifts. Problem #1 – Nick’s wrapped girt was bigger than Nate’s. “No biggie,” I thought. “He’ll be happy once he sees the Magnetix.”
Heh – here comes problem #2 – Nate already has Magnetix.
“Noooo, not the magnets! I hate the magnets!!!”
Ugh – even though I though I did well, that moment made me realize I didn’t. Fortunately these Magnetix are like Legos – the more you have, the bigger and more sophisticated stuff you can build. Erin was very gracious and assured me he plays with the ones he currently has every day, and that he really loves them.
I think I have a pretty good understanding of the child psyche. I wasn’t heartbroken that he didn’t like my gift. I understand it’s not cool when the first gift you open is something you already have. I also understand the boys were tired and cranky as they did not have their afternoon naps.
I just had a conversation with a co-worker last week about how it’s better to pick out and wrap gifts than to give a gift card, but this situation my friends, is the perfect reason why gift cards are a great idea (please note – the co-worker is the gift card hater, not moi – but I do agree that sometimes it’s better to receive a cool gift than a plastic card that you have to put a great deal of effort into using). So I guess from now on, I will give gift cards. Then again – what kid wants to open a gift card?
So, for my NY girlfriends’ kids, I asked them to pick a day and I will pay for us all to go to Chuck E Cheese. I figure I can’t go wrong there – I hope?!?!?!
I have some pictures to post of the LaViolette Christmas Party. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to put them up tonight. I have most of the thumbnails done – and that’s ½ the battle.
I picked George to buy for … so you’ll see a bunch of him opening his gifts. I gave him a goodie bag with kettle corn popcorn, cheddar Chex Mix, chocolate Chex Mix, homemade oatmeal chocolate chip & peanut butter chip cookies and the DVD set, “Band of Brothers.” I also gave him a nice Carhartt hoodie. He said I did a good job. =)
This year coming up, I have Uncle Leo. I have to keep in mind his special dietary needs if I decide to get him some food goodies. I’m pretty psyched – I like giving to my loves.
Well, if I don’t get a chance to post again by Christmas – Merry Christmas, Kids!!!
Stay classy,
~Amie
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
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