MuffinMan wanted a happy Christmas thread. Add in Hanukkah and Yule and whatever, and voila -- a thread for happy Giftmas times. Today I took six packages of yarn and/or spinning fiber to the post office and mailed it out to people from my knitting forum. Most of them don't know they're getting a package -- a friend of one of them would tell me "this person is struggling financially and loves to spin", and I'd pack up something for them from my spare stash. Shipping was crazy cheap, because 4oz of wool "top" (carded fiber, basically) is considered to be a lot. So I got to clear out a drawer and give some nice people a present for like $2.60 a package plus the cost of the envelope. I felt very Santa-ish today. :) I also finished ordering my presents for family. Tomorrow there will be tree decorating and some gift wrapping!
I feel so Christmassy today. I went out last night for the first time in a month, which was desperately needed. Slept on some friends' couch, which was all warm and snuggly. And that was after a relaxing night listening to some bands and having a couple of drinks. I woke up this morning and it was lovely and warm (in the room.) I was really hungry though as I ate very little yesterday and went for a big durty fry-up. I ate enough food to feed a lion and the waitress kept topping up my coffee. But the place was playing a lot of not-so-famous 50s/60s Christmas music and was beautifully decorated. The sun was shining and I bought bread and the streets were christmassy and I feel fecking great. :D
Can you guys recommend any family-friendly, funny, pass-around the living room Christmas-themed books out this year? For example, I bought Scared of Santa and took it to my folks' house a few years ago, and it was a huge hit. EDIT: Ooh, I think I found one - Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets Festive
I'm supposed to come up with a couple of gifts for the company Christmas party majigger. I have exactly zero ideas. Ugh. The popular gifts last year were one of those wine glasses that can hold a whole bottle, and a really ugly pair of Santa socks. We got a slow-cooker and a gift certificate to a chocolate shop. So, I'm trying to find something inbetween those, as this is the only thing we're doing for Christmas this year. We saw our families for Thanksgiving so we're #foreveralone on Christmas.
For gifts like that I just stop at a store, give myself ten minutes, and at the end of the ten minutes I buy the least awful item I've found.
I love ThinkGeek's points program. I ordered some stuff from them as family gifts, and with my points I got this glass for myself: It shows measurements for beer, spirits, and wine. I heart this glass so much. If I had more money I'd send one to everybody who's ever posted in the Drunk Thread...
SwitchKnitter I think you just saved Christmas. We're going order four, keep two, and take the other two to the party.
My roommate's boyfriend has a nerf gun this size. We're planning some shenanigans. And then I'm going home and hanging with my brother. We will ritually beat the ever loving shit out of one another and then nerd the fuck out with beer and Borderlands 2. Or you know just generally running about like mad men with our pellet guns. We're in our mid twenties and still feel compelled to act like teenagers together. It is goodest. The extended family will continue their campaign of transforming into an enormous bitchbeast of awful. We'll be forced to spend time with them. It will suck so hard. And I'll have to deal with the first christmas without my doggie, who died just before thanksgiving. I'm still sad about her going, she was bestdog. BUT PRESENTS. I got my brother GW2 which I'll seduce him into playing over the holiday (ENGINEERATHON). My sister wanted to get my parents a portrait of the three of us but no not doing that that's creepy and I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO SEE ME FOLLOWING ME WITH MY EYES. So I'm buying them fancy Italian wine instead. My sister will get coal and by that I mean a badass cookbook from Dirt Candy. http://shop.dirtcandynyc.com/products/cookbook My extended family sucks so they don't get shit. No idea what my not suck family is getting me but it better not suck or I'll straight up cut a bitch.
I bought a new desk last week that I am picking up tomorrow - it's 36" high, which means I can use it as a standing desk, sit at it with a barstool, OR stand at it and use it as a crafting table. At long last, I have the gift-wrapping station I've always dreamed of! Christmas gifts gonna get wrapped, son! Also, Parts 4, 5, and 6 of the Holiday Baking Extravaganza are upcoming. AND Christmas at my dad's is next weekend (lots of family in the area, so Christmas tends to last all month). Get to see my nieces and nephew again, not to mention my sister while she's home from college.
Friends came over last night to watch a movie so I made sure I had their Christmas gifts hidden in the closet before they got there. Of course, I end up tearing through the closet looking for an Xbox controller later and knock a gift onto the floor without knowing it. Friend happens to see it an hour later and picks it up. Instead of playing dumb like it's mine or a gift for someone else I decided to go the route of yelling at him to stop snooping for his presents because he just ruined Christmas. Good times.
If any of you are into Buckyballs and want to get some as gifts before they're all gone (thanks to our Obamacare socialist nanny state), they are running some pretty good specials. I got three 125-ball sets yesterday for $8 each. www.getbuckyballs.com
Hey! Screw you, buddy! You don't get to order ME to have a happy holiday, SwitchKnitter! Oh, wait. I guess you do, actually.
Speaking of Holiday cheer! Despite the fact SwitchKnitter is not my Secret Santa, he got me something because apparently it screamed RyanMM. I'm not sure how it managed to do that, because it's SOAP! HOW CAN SOAP SCREAM??? It's soap that's made with beer! Oatmeal Stout soap, Honey Ale soap, and Pumpkin Lager soap!!! But either way, I am feeling especially festive and happy right now. ALL THE FEELS <3 ^.^ (am I doing that right?)
Here we go... my friend makes soap (and lotions and lip balm and other things), and she did a beer lover's set: oatmeal stout, honey ale, and pumpkin lager. So hopefully RyanMM will smell better than if someone had poured a Bud Light over his head... ETA Ryan edited while I was typing this. Oops. :)
This year chocolate-peppermint stuff is EVERYWHERE. This is not great for my diet because it is hands-down my favorite sweet flavor combination. Why is it so popular this year ? is it just around here or all over the US or... even the world? (those parts that do Xmas I guess).
This isn't a new thing. Peppermint Mocha has been my wife's favorite holiday taste thing for quite a few years now.
around here it has always been a thing... peppermint mocha, sure, maybe some peppermint bark at candy stores and Dove bars. But this year it's freaking everywhere. Minty Jo-Jos (oreos) and chocolate-dipped minty marshmallows at Trader Joe's. Chocolate mint M&Ms. Peppermint bark of widely varying quality everywhere I look. Pillsbury Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Mix.
White chocolate peppermint bark is amazing, and peppermint hot chocolate is amazing, and other mint+chocolate things are amazing. I don't even need this time of year for mint+chocolate indulgences (see: thin mints, chocolate mint ice cream, grasshopper pie).
I am so excited, because Monday is when the post office told me most of my spinning wool packages should arrive at their destinations. One person got hers yesterday(!!!) and totally loved it. That's a good sign. I can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks of theirs. I enjoy gift-giving WAY too much.
