Presents and Wrapping

Yesterday I did a bunch of Christmas shopping. I still have a bunch left. Some of the stuff I got is "stocking stuffers" -- a jar of jam or a coffee mug for people who are getting larger presents from me/us. Some people may be getting entire presents composed of stocking stuffers this year. Myself, I love that kind of present, though I try not to project that onto people who don't.

timprov and I have two gift-giving-holiday traditions. The first is that he sometimes claims the Right of Last Present. We wait until all celebrations with family and friends are over and I don't think anybody else has anything waiting for me, and then he asks what I really want that I didn't get, and then he gets it for me. The other is that sometimes we buy each other's presents together, so we get the gift of whatever it is and also the gift of the time spent hanging out together picking it out. We did some of the latter last night, and it was a good thing. We weren't sure we'd be able to this year, with his health. (Also we got things for other people and further discussed things for other people, some of whom are reading this right now, so don't get nosey.)

You will note that neither of these really involves surprises. That's okay. I get surprises from markgritter, and often from my folks and other friends and loved ones. Not everything has to be a surprise. Surprises are good, but there are other good things, too.

What I really want this year, in the material goods department, is:
( a shorter list than you might think )

See? Told you it was a short list. I also got enough wrapping paper for the Army of the Potomac at Target yesterday. ( Wrapping theory )

So how about you? What do you want this year, and how do you like to wrap presents (for Christmas or other holidays or just in general)? Or do you want for nothing and hate to wrap at all? Closer to Christmas I will ask what you are most excited about giving this year, but I don't expect that you'll have a definitive answer at this point. As I keep reminding myself, we have time.

ETA: I don't mean to tell you that you should get me the stuff I want, or, sadly for you, to imply that I'm going to get you the stuff you want. I'm just wondering.

Week of November 27-December 3

One rejection (called "extra-special" by the editor -- in the "nearly bought it" direction rather than the "don't ever submit here again" direction), one request for revisions, one request for more material. So a pretty good week, as weeks without any concrete sale-ish things go.

I should really get on the rewrites, too. I have been lacking the energy, or rather I've been using it for other things. Today I went to a craft fair. It was billing itself as kind of an "alternative" craft fair. Apparently what this means is that my brain will repeatedly channel John Cusack saying, "Get your patchouli stink out of my store!" over and over and over again. Umm. Most craft fairs have tables filled with things I don't want, and this was no exception, although the directionality was a bit different. I do not want a purse made out of old Budweiser memorabilia, for example. (I'm sorry, gaaldine; I know you were hoping to get one for Christmas, but I hope you can live with the disappointment.) Anyway, I did find and purchase two items of interest, so that's something, at least. Progress. I'm glad I didn't call a friend to do this as a social thing, though, because the place was packed to the gills, squeezing room only, and loud.

But the happy part -- besides the items I found -- was that the driving directions took me right past Great-Grandma Lingen's old highrise, so I got to see where I fell in love with Minneapolis for the first time, when she took me up on the roof to look at the city.

And the snow is pretty, and markgritter is home for over a week, and I'm in the middle of Gemini, and...like that. Good stuff abounds.