yet another white elephant

Today I attended my second, and I hope last for this year, Christmas party that involved a white elephant gift exchange. I gave away what i won last night and the lady who picked it seemed pleased but I noticed no one stole it from her.  I had my hands on a gift box that included some lottery tickets but it was stolen from me before I got to see if I was a big winner. Ah well.  I did end up with a jar of candy (I'm sure my grandkids will approve) and a Snowman music box - definitely a better haul than last night.  Ho, ho, ho!

White Elephants

I attended a Christmas party this evening that included, after lots of good food and fellowship, a white elephant gift exchange.  As usual with these exchanges, some gifts were rather nice (a tiny crystal sail boat with a clock on the sail) and some were pretty awful (the singing frogs on a  log) but I got the most mysterious gift of them all - three little bags, furry on one side, satiny on the other, each with a zipper closure.  All three were creamy white in color and rather nice to look at and feel but no one could figure out what they were for.  One was shaped like a small coin purse, the second like a visor with a head band and the third one a long skinny bag with the zipper on one small end.  One wise guy suggested that that one might be an umbrella holder.  Finally, the lady who brought these mysterious items explained.  These little bags (made in China according to the tags were intended as ice pack holders, something soft and silky to put on your forehead or wherever when some part of your body aches. How very nice.  I know just where to put them.
Did I mention I have to go to another party with white elephant exchange tomorrow?

a long awaited pleasure

Over the years friends have invited me several times to attend the annual Advent Candlelight Service at Trinity English Lutheran Church here in Fort Wayne.  This year I was finally able to attend and it was beautiful.  My friend suggested that we sit in one of the side balconies, which we did (front row).  it gave us a perfect view of the various processions and the bell choir in the balcony across from us  Beautiful music all the way through.  I discovered, coincidentally that my financial adviser plays the Glockenspiel.  The absolute high point of the evening for me was the St. Lucia procession at the end of the program.  I was born on St. Lucia's Day and my name is Luci and all my life I've heard about girls representing St. Lucia walking in processions with a crown of lighted candles on their heads but I had never actually seen it until today.  The young lady in the "starring role" this year had a lovely voice and carried herself quite regally.  As she stood at the front of the darkened church, other girls carrying candles moved along the aisles lighting the candles people held, who then lit their neighbor's candles and on and on.  From our place in the balcony we had a beautiful view of the flickering lights gradually spreading through the whole church.  Really lovely and very moving, a fine way to start the Christmas season..

Christmas Shopping

I'm happy to announce that I have started my Christmas shopping. I know that's not very impressive.  I have already seen people going into post offices carrying boxes ready to ship across the country.  I am full of admiration for people who get things done early.  I have one friend who is so consistently finished early with her Christmas shopping that I know when she tells me "I'm finished with my shopping" it's time for me to get started, so I have. Two family gifts down, 27 to go.  I'm on my way.

Do you remember Bewitched?

Samantha, the lovely young witch who was the feature character in the old TV series Bewitched had a wonderful way to get things done. All she had to do was twitch her nose and dishes washed themselves, rooms cleaned themselves, anything cluttery was immediately pristine.  Right now my living room and family room are stacked full of an odd assortment of everything that had to be dragged out of three bedrooms so new carpet could go in. The new carpet is in now, just lying there and looking new and beautiful. Now my job is to put everything back...but try as I may, twitching my nose madly, nothing's happening.  I guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way, sob... Ah well, tomorrow is another day. Maybe I'll get bitten by a weird spider or struck by lightening over night and develop super powers. I'm off to bed to find out.

favorite holiday commercial so far

I was listening to the radio the other day, in itself an unusual experience for me, tuned in to a country station, also unusual but fun, and I heard a commercial that made me laugh.  A lady, shopping at a jewelry store, calls her husband on his cell phone to tell him about the amazing deals at the store. To everything she mentions, a diamond necklace, a Pandora charm for his mom, and much more, he says "Sure, sounds fine, go ahead and buy it." She squeals in delight and as the connection is broken, the man's buddy says "Who were you talking to?" to which the agreeable man replies "No idea, it was a wrong number."

Hats off to Norman Breakey

As I was painting yesterday (I promise this is my last post about painting) I marveled at how much easier and faster the painting went when I was using the roller instead of the brush, so I naturally began to wonder who invented this marvelous tool.  According to Wickipedia the inventor of the paint roller was Canadian Norman Breakey.  He invented it in 1940 but sadly never made much money from his invention,  Others swooped in with slight variations and got the market share. Another fascinating factoid, especially for fans of space fiction: In a serialized story, "Space Hounds of IPC" published in 1931, the author, E.E. "Doc" Smith, mentions using rollers to spread paste on the outside of space ships. So there you have it paint roller fans.