I am not a tough gal to buy for when it comes to Christmas. Mikey would probably tell you differently, but I’m really not; Christmas is for the kids.
The one thing however, that is a staple under the tree for me each year is a refill bottle of both bath gel and moisturizer from Lady Primrose of Dallas. The fragrance is called Necture, and is not available year round, but it is at Christmas time.
I was first introduced to this product in Cabo San Lucas when Mike and I spent our ten-year anniversary at Las Ventanas; hands down the most incredible boutique resort we have ever been to. We had our own private beachfront villa with an infinity pool and Jacuzzi, and an outdoor shower that we still can’t stop talking about. Each day the staff would refill our hand-blown glass decanter, made by a local artisan with Lady Primrose products; Necture is Las Ventanas’ signature scent. There were so many amenities at LV, we had to literally pinch ourselves every day we were there, but the bath product was the one thing I knew I could take home with me (literally, you should have seen the inside of my suitcase!)
Our first Christmas after that memorable trip, Mikey bought me several products from their Necture line; they came in elegant crystal decanters. Every Christmas since, I can depend on refill bottles to keep my memories of that trip alive. As an added bonus, the gorgeous gift-wrap they arrive in reminds me of that time, when everything around us was stunningly beautiful.
This year however, Mikey ran into a little hic-cup. In all fairness to him, he has had once crazy year. He seems to be on the road more than he is home and he tackled a huge home improvement project, which is still getting the finishing touches on it this week… his (non)vacation!
That said... Mikey failed to secure my Lady Primrose before the one store in town that carries it sold out. In a near panic, he called Jordie from the store and told her to get online, it was Tuesday afternoon at this point, and order it from the Lady Primrose site. “I don’t care what it costs or how much shipping is… get it done” he said.
Suffice it to say, Jordie passed the buck and the problem landed in my lap. Oh, what a gift that turned out to be! At the “end” of the order, it offers you a chance to write a “note” … hand-written mind you… to be enclosed with the magnificently wrapped package. I could not resist…
In the comments section, I first wrote this: Please ignore the sappy message below. I obviously had to order my own gift because my husband procrastinated and Annabelle’s here in Leawood, KS is now out of my Necture! He must pay!!!
For a mere $58 in shipping costs, I think you will agree with me… it was well worth it!
And as an added bonus, Lady Primrose wrote a note to me on the back…
Mikey’s face was priceless, the kids busted a gut, and I have a great story that will give me years of entertainment!
Merry Christmas to me!
I am re-posting a beautiful poem my niece Kacee gave to me right after her mother, my sister, TC died three years ago. As some of you know TC died Thanksgiving weekend, which makes me very aware that for some people, the holidays are a struggle with so much perceived happiness and joy going on around us.
This year I post it in honor of people who have touched my family’s lives and we will miss them.
Grandpa Kenny: a wonderful husband to Mike’s Mom Marlene, an incredible father to Mike and Robin, a fun and loving Grandpa to Bret, Eric, Christine, Jordie, Nick, Anthony and Luke. Nick Francis: a good friend to my family for many, many years, and also a wonderful husband and father. Two of Jordan's classmates whose lives ended tragically and senselessly, Kevin and Connor. And special love tonight, to Mrs. Umbach… my friend Karen’s mom, who is under hospice care this Christmas Eve night. Pat is a woman of great faith who exudes grace and dignity at all times. My prayers are with her and the entire Umbach family, as they struggle through this horrendously sad holiday season.
If you too have someone you have lost this year or year’s past, and this poem touches you the way it did me, I encourage you to list his or her name in my comments section. Sometimes it helps to know you are not alone.
My First Christmas in Heaven
I see the countless trees around the world below.
With tiny lights, like heaven’s stars, reflecting on the snow.
The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away that tear.
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear.
But the sounds of music can’t compare with the Christmas choir up here.
I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring.
For it is beyond description to hear the angel sing.
I know how much you miss me.
I see the pain inside your heart.
But I am not so far away, we really aren’t apart.
So be happy for me dear ones,
You know I hold you dear.
And be glad I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I send you each a special gift from my heavenly home above.
I send you each a memory of my undying love.
After all “Love” is the gift, more precious than pure gold.
It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.
Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do.
For I can’t count the blessings or love he has for you.
So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away the tear.
Remember, I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
(Anonymous)
We love and miss you TC.
I am no longer a virgin. A 'Black Friday' virgin that is.
Yes, even I am perplexed as to how I’ve managed to miss the fun all these years, the best I can figure is the following timeline:
In the early years… I was too broke to take advantage of the good deals.
Once I started making some jack... I was probably too hung-over to make the early morning call.
After babies came along… I was way too friggin exhausted to get up exactly four hours after I went to bed.
Then for years, when our kids got a little older… we would hit the road for Thanksgiving with relatives in faraway places, (think Great Bend, Wichita… you know, the exotic spots) and all I could do was salivate in the car over the tempting ads as we drove further and further away from the deals.
This is the first year in many that we are actually in town for Black Friday. So I gobbled up those ads yesterday morning before I even gave thought to gobbling the bird. I have one big-ticket item in mind for someone special and Target had a hell of a deal. “Tar-jhay” it would be.
11:30p.m. last night: I lay out sweatpants, sweatshirt and Uggs for easy a.m. access.
3:10a.m.: I reach over and turn the alarm off before it actually goes off; my anticipation/dread of the task ahead had my internal alarm clock go off over an hour earlier. Little did I know (being a virgin and all) that the extra hour would have been better spent in line at Target, than fretting in bed.
3:20a.m.: I finally rouse my sorry arse out of bed and into my shopping fatigues, fantasizing about the extra large cup of Joe I’ll soon have my chilly fingers wrapped around thanks to Mickey D’s.
3:30a.m.: Oh. No. Say it ain’t so. McDonalds doesn’t open until 6a.m.??? Are they crazy? What lame brain in marketing didn’t realize there would be hoards of people hitting the roads at this hour in search of bargains? A large cup of Joe for a buck is about as good a bargain as you can get these days and the powers that be at the Golden Arches missed it? I seriously contemplate going home at this point.
3:45a.m.: Holy Moly! The parking lot is jammed. Something tells me these people are not in line for the $18 Toy Story Twin bedding set. These folks are serious; it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what most of them are here for. I actually trot through the parking lot… (The first clue I have truly lost my mind.)
3:50a.m.: I finally arrive at the back of the line. Naively, I went to the front door first. From there I was directed around the south side of the building. My already shortened breath (remember, I was trotting!) was further challenged when I realized the line rivaled that of the Garth Brooks concert I stood in a few years back. When I got to what I mistakenly thought was the end of it, I was directed to take a right, which now put me on the west side of the building near the loading docks. I probably would have left at that point and headed back home to bed, but I needed a rest from all that exercise.
Waiting in line turned out to be quite fascinating. First off… people come in pairs, groups even; I was definitely in the minority being alone. That said, I would never do that to a friend… between the obnoxious time of day and the lack of caffeine flowing through my bloodstream, no one deserves that wrath. But people were jovial… laughing, sharing stories about Black Fridays of past. The gal in front of me even recognized a woman she got into a scuffle with at Toys R Us yesterday because she “cut in line”!!! Man did that get the crowd going… other line-mates wanted her to point the woman out, this is serious business and line cutting is apparently among the worst of the offenses you can commit. (Note to self: How do hard-core BFer’s view “paying-off” someone at the front of the line? Worth investigating.)
The man behind me spotted a woman limping through the line on crutches. He actually starts chastising her for trying to pull that one over on the crowd. “Yeah lady, we’re all buying your broken leg act. I’ve got my grandma up here with her walker… Shhhh Grannie... I’ll change your diaper later, as soon as you thump yourself back to the toy department and get Sara that doll house”. Honest to Pete, could I make this up?
4:00a.m.: And we’re off. The line is moving swiftly, it almost makes me glad to be in the back. I hear a lot of hootin and hollerin up front and suddenly remember last year’s bone-crushing Wal-Mart video. Sometimes it's good to be late to the party I guess.
4:03a.m.: After securing a cart, which I am very proud of… I commit another virgin faux pas. The TV’s are not in the electronics department folks. Noooooooooo… this particular TV is in the Sporting Goods Department; how did everyone but me know that?
4:04a.m.: Panic is setting in. People all around me have my stinkin TV in their carts. I plead with a woman to tell me where she found it. “Oh they’re all gone,” she tells me quite bragadociously. “They only had 40, that’s why I camped out at 11p.m. last night.
“Sweet Jesus” I think to myself. I cannot believe I fell for this trick. I am now standing in the middle of a Target at four in the friggin morning with an empty cart and no plan. None. I don’t know and I don’t care what else they have. All I know is I got shut out on what I came here for!
4:05a.m.: I spy with my little eye another item in someone’s cart that I remember having an interest in for the boy child. “Well, at least I can get that” I told myself and headed back toward the woman’s department; the nice woman who had already secured one told me where they were hidden. As I’m putting it in my cart, I notice a feeding frenzy going on in the next aisle… this, I now know… is how they hook ya!
4:07a.m.: I whip out my debit card at the register as a thoughtful Target employee helps me maneuver my new FORTY-SIX inch 1080p LCD HD TV for the cashier to scan. My heart is still racing and I am fearful to look back at the crazed crowd I just barely escaped. I keep seeing that man’s face who made the fatal mistake of hesitating before claiming the last TV! I am sure he too was there for the 32 incher that was priced a hundred bucks less, but hey dude… this is Black Friday, he who hesitates…
4:17a.m.: I slip back into my still warm jammies, shove the dog out of my spot on the bed and try to settle back into dreamland. Mike suddenly startles me by asking “Did you get it”? “Get what?” I sheepishly reply, shocked that he’s awake. “The TV… did you get the TV?” “Um… yeah”, I say somewhat misleadingly… “I got a TV”. “Good… that will be a big hit.” he muttered as he drifted back to sleep.
I like to think this will be my first and last experience with Black Friday; although no longer a virgin, its never too late to practice abstinence! I have an uneasiness in my belly; I feel kind of dirty. Not only is there some nice man crawling back into his bed having to confess to his wife that he “didn’t” get a TV because he was outwitted by a Black Friday virgin, I also felt as if I sold out to over-consumption. And the worst part is how easily I caved; my budget, the specs according to wall space in the room… all of it gave way to the chaos we in America call… Black Friday.
So maybe next year I can make it right. I will leave Consumption at home and bring its first cousin Capitalism with me instead. I will set-up a coffee cart and peddle enough Joe to desperate under-caffeinated over-consuming shoppers, so I can afford to pay full price for next year’s “must have” item. And hopefully… that will include shipping it right to my warm and cozy front door!
Hmph.
I don't know about that, but a store which sports a lovely window full of empty Skyy Vodka bottles for its Valentines Day display?
Now that's intoxicating Stuff!
I'm wondering if they "emptied them" themselves? And if they did... are they hiring?
Happy Valentines Day everyone!
So you know “that” gift you rediscover every year under the Christmas tree when you go to take it down? You know the one; you opened it up, rotated the box a few times and searching for words, you said something along the lines of “Ahhhhhhh… I saw these on TV. Very cool, thank you”!
Later, when you are tidying up the morning mess left in the wake of opening gifts, you pick it back up and neatly place it under the tree, not really knowing what to do with it but certain it’s way too soon for Goodwill. So there it stays until the day you finally take all your holiday décor down as you kiss one more year goodbye.
Now however, you are forced to face the gift.
This was mine: the “Gourmet Chia Herb Garden”.
Not quite on par with last year’s As Seen On TV phenomena “ The Snuggle”, but way, way better than a package of Sham-wow’s whose ASOTV promoter wound up in the hospital this year after a hooker bit his ear off. (Apparently, there is a no kissing rule he was unaware of; hope he’s not a cuddler… ouch!)
But I digress.
When I rediscovered my “gift” today, I gave it a better look. “Why not?” I thought. The kids got Uncle Lazy Bum a Homer Simpson Chia head one Christmas and he had to give it haircuts regularly! And since I failed to bring my herbs indoors last fall, this just may be my solution for a long winter ahead with no fresh grown herbs.
So plant I did. But I am holding off sending that Thank You note until after the harvest!
Let's hope I’m more successful than I was with TC’s sunflower garden!
I’ll keep you (com)posted!
Update: Just as I thought... a complete and utter bust! 2-1-10
1. To end the vicious cycle of either sipping on a cocktail or chewing on a Tums.
2. To save $19.99 on Spanx every time I have to maneuver into my one pair of black slacks that still fit me. The reason for buying them repeatedly is that I keep a pair of scissors in my car to cut them right down the belly-seam as soon as the party is over.
3. So I have one less hour of free time on my hands in which to eat and drink with reckless abandon.
4. To put hope back into my doctor’s eyes, who after my last blood work and physical lost all his humor and most of his personality.
5. To replace “Girls Night Out of Debauchery” with a more respectable social function, even if we do have to call it “Fat Chicks go to Weight Watchers”. (And no ladies; we cannot go to Ihop afterwards!)
6. To reduce the noise pollution in my house, i.e. grunting, while dragging my sorry, ample ass up our stairs.
7. To steady my heart, particularly when viewing the holiday photo’s and pondering, “who the fat chick is” before recognizing my own sweater.
8. To be able to get out of bed in the morning without having to walk for the first 3 minutes on my tiptoes while whispering “ow-ow, ow-ow, owwwww”!
9. To lose enough weight so that I can go back to the gym without fear of 9-1-1 being summonsed after just 10 minutes on a cardio machine.
10. Because it is a New Year, a New Decade and God willing… a new me!
Have a happy and healthy New Year everyone; I hope each of you realize your dreams and reach your goals in 2010 and beyond.
The three “of them” as I like to refer to my family when we are on opposing sides of an issue, were initially annoyed that our large Christmas tree was not up and decorated after the Thanksgiving weekend. This year was going to be different I insisted; I am not going to be the only one decorating the damn thing!
Typically, Mike and I put the monstrosity together on a Saturday morning which never ends in good holiday cheer. Next, the lights need to go on but that takes until Sunday night because we are still too pissed off at each other over the engineering of the tree from the day before! Therefore, that leaves Monday when they are back at school and work for me to get out the ladder and commence to decorating. And I’m here to tell you from past experience… Bailey’s Irish Crème in my morning coffee and a 10-foot ladder is no way to start your week!
By last weekend, annoyance gave way to snarkiness when the tree was not only still M.I.A., but I was clearly drawing a line in the sand. If they did not all chip in and help me get it up, lit AND decorated by last Sunday… the deal was off.
Did-not-happen!
Fast forward to this weekend and the three musketeers are simply aghast!
There is a new holiday sheriff in town and I’m doing things my way!
We now have a small yet tasteful slim tree in the family room where we spend most of our time together anyway. The chandelier, which can be enjoyed from said room, is filled with oversized Christmas ornaments and glittery snowflakes are hanging from its crystal beading.
Lovely!
But the pièce de résistance this year is in the room formerly known as the “Christmas Tree Room” during the holiday season; it is a brand new shiny Red Martini Set there to welcome all who enter!
It is festive and bright and has invoked as many “Ooh’s and Ahh’s” from our guests as the monstrosity has in years past!
I will admit to a few pangs of sorrow; Oh, how I love rediscovering my treasured ornaments each year as I choose the perfect spot from which they hang.
Nevertheless, sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do to make her point.
And if I don't make my point this holiday season, at least I can make Santa a kick-ass Martini…
Sláinte!
DEBACLE.
Holidays stress me out.
I don’t know when this all began, I used to adore them. Over the top decorating, big parties that I wrote clever invitations to; I was Merry, Merry, Merry!
The last couple of years, I have managed to create even more angst to my holiday season in the form of “home improvement projects”!
Was it just last year, (or the year before that) we tore the entire entryway up? The stairs to the upper level were literally ripped out. It was hard enough for those of us with two legs to navigate our way up to bed at night, poor Tucky had many narrow escapes from an early demise. That obstacle course put a damper on me and Mikey’s holiday drinking too; one needed to be sober to navigate that death trap successfully.
Hardwood floors redone? Yep… I remember I chose the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas for that too! Suffice it to say it was a disaster and they had to come back after the New Year to do it again… this time using the correct color of stain! My heart still pounds just thinking about that debacle.
“Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior”, they say.
Well there you have it.
Yesterday, on a whim… I tore out two entire rooms of carpet. Full disclosure: my sister-in-law Kat came over to help, (aka: run this project). I had called her for advice regarding my idea, but had talked myself out of it on the same phone call having quickly overwhelmed myself. “I should probably wait until after the holidays” was my new found and very sane thought. “Well what are you doing right now?” she asked me. “Sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and apparently talking myself out of a hare-brained idea”, I replied as I glanced at the clock; 9:15am. Kat is a machine; “I’ll be over in an hour to help you, find some sharp blades!” Ru-roh…
You should have seen the look of horror on Mikey’s face when he unexpectedly stopped by the house between meetings that morning. In a mere 45 minutes, Kat and I removed carpet, pad and staples from the two adjoining rooms! Even more amusing was Kat’s attempt to cover for me… “What are you doing home, we’re not done yet”… or something like that! Done yet? We don’t even have a plan much less a plan to be done!
This is the room we decorate our 10-foot Christmas tree in, which is usually up for Thanksgiving. Today marks the first day of December; Nicholas, our Christmas Elf, is aghast.
So as I scurry around painting baseboards today, stressing over the contents of my dining room hutch laid out all over my kitchen table for God knows how long and second-guessing my own sanity, you all enjoy your beautifully decorated, Christmas-ready homes. Light a cozy fire, get out your Christmas Cocktail recipes, and be sure the timer is set for your perfectly strung outdoor lights (another failure of ours, Nick points out daily).
Moreover, if you are truly in the holiday spirit… invite me over for a drink; I need one!
Peppermint martini anyone?
