Signs of the season

[mrissa]

Having some radio silence was good for me. And now it's over, and that's good for me, too.

I made the first batch of Christmas cookies yesterday, and the dough is chilling for the second batch this morning. I will not be baking one type of cookies a day every day until Christmas. Of course not! Some days will be bread or candy! (Seriously, no. Not daily.)

Also there are newspaper articles about the generic books you can buy people you claim to care about but don't actually know. I love that. "For the fantasy reader on your list --" No. Just, no. This suggestion never, ever wins. This year the one I saw was a slipjacketed edition of The Hobbit with a history of The Hobbit included in the volume. Some percentage of fantasy readers will love this. Most will look at it and go, "Oh...another Hobbit...that isn't as nice as our leatherbound one or as historical as our first-edition and the cover isn't as good as that one edition we keep because we like the cover, and...um...thanks, random relative." We live in the age of wishlists now! You can buy your loved ones things they actually want, and not presents that say, "Hello, I have put you into a narrow category that fits you like a cat in a wetsuit, merry Christmas!" (I don't know why these articles annoy me so much, because I have exactly zero friends or relations who do anything like this to me. Maybe it's because no one in my life does this to me, so I have high standards. Hmm.)

Other, happier signs of the season: my very favorite weather guy, Paul Douglas The Weather Guy, is snarking in the newspaper. He does this every year. He asks the people who are complaining to him about the cold to find themselves on the map, and then he asks if they're surprised. The day of the year I love Paul Douglas The Weather Guy most is March 29, but after that it's the really cold day when he snarks. Best Weather Guy Ever.

And when I walked the dog yesterday, I should have worn tights under my jeans, but I had The Good Hot Chocolate when I got home, so all was well. Yay, restorative properties of The Good Hot Chocolate! It's too bad there's not enough of this stuff to apply in a thin layer to, say, disease or poverty or war. Because its properties are quite astounding.

Oh, and one more along the winter holiday lines: it's that time of year again! Time for me to bellow at a Hungarian man over the phone and wind up with sausages and spice pastes and many good things! Otto was right: I do need chestnut puree, and I am calling him back. "No we got none of that too bad for you bye!" Yay Ottoday!

Comments

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

Yay, Otto! Please promise me you'll regale us with your phone conversation! I love Otto, though, I don't cook enough eclectic food to require his phone number yet...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'll try, but watch, this'll be the time some thoroughly American employee answers the phone and there is no story.

[ozarque.livejournal.com]

Yay for the restorative properties of this excellent post! Thank you! I may make it through this day without snapping at people after all, just because of you and this excellent post!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Why, thanks!

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Website address, please? I browsed the comments of the old post, but didn't see one, and I've been told Hungarian sausages are the best.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Here's the site (http://members.aol.com/HungImprts/), but you have to call or fax or mail in an order; there's no way to order online, so far as I've been able to find.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Oh.....oh my....I don't even know where to start! looks through the website

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

"For the fantasy reader on your list --" No. Just, no. This suggestion never, ever wins.

It's on the same scale as that Amazon thing about "People who liked AND wear clothes might appreciate: this pair of grotty leopardskin-print slippers", which was at one point showing up with the same pair of slippers for every value of book X I actually looked at.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Apparently a lot more people at conventions are going back to their rooms at the end of the day and putting on grotty leopard-print slippers than any of us ever realized. Or were willing to admit to.

[rosefox]

Some YA publishers are now bringing out big books on December 26th, to take advantage of kids who get cash or book-related gift cards/certificates. Small Beer Press is also running their holiday sale through the 31st for the same reason. So really, there's no excuse for getting your generic fantasy reader anything other than money in some form.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, except for the reason that you want to pick something out for them because you enjoy that part. Or the reason that you think you might actually know them enough to expose them to something they'd like or wouldn't already have. But other than those reasons.

[rosefox]

Then they clearly aren't generic!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Perhaps someday you would give details on The Good Hot Chocolate?

I'm considering going to Oaxaca just to get a good cup of chocolate, so if you know of an easier way to make or buy or somehow get some, that would be very appreciated.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Alas, but The Good Hot Chocolate was only manufactured in 2005, so far as I can tell. The company that made it is no longer making it. So I only have 2-4 cups left, not sure exactly.

Sigh.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I dislike the concept of the wishlist, both from the maker-of-wishlist and the user-of-wishlist aspects. I can't put my reasons into words, not exactly, but I think it has to do with the idea of "gift" and expectations of giving and the idea that giving which is directed in any way by the getter is not really giving.

I don't say this is sane, nor am I pronouncing vendetta on anyone else's wishlisting, just noting that I'd personally never check anyone else's wishlist before getting them a gift - or, if I'd stumbled across it, I'd perversely try to find something good for them that was NOT on it.

Then again, I would never buy a copy of The Hobbit for a known fantasy reader. In fact I never buy books for a Constant Reader, any more than I buy DVDs for a film buff, except in special circumstances. The odds are against me.

And then again again, I DO often buy gift certificates for people, which I understand strike some people as a horrid thing and not a "real gift," so all standards are, as usual, relative.

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I concur with your nebulous thoughts on wishlisting. Generally speaking, the people that I care enough about to buy presents for, I also hang out with often enough to observe their likes and their dislikes and the things that they linger wistfully in front of in the tools section of the hardware store... It's kind of like a game, and having them tell me the answers to the ultimate questions feels not entirely unlike cheating.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

As a receiver of gifts, there is nothing worse for me than getting the almost-right thing. Because, since it's a gift, I can't just throw it away and get the right thing; no, I have to *live with* this damned thing, which every time I see it reminds me that it's *not the right thing*. (Setting aside the question of whether it might be a big enough gift that I couldn't just replace it without pain.)

[redbird]

I asked someone for his wishlist this year. Specifically, I asked my beloved cattitude for his wishlist. It's not easy coming up with gifts for someone who already has most of what they want, whose budget is basically the same as yours [1] so you can't be the generous parent or aunt for whom the price of a stuffed widget is much less of a big deal than for the recipient, and who has access to all the shops and suppliers you do. (I can ask some people "is there something you'd like from New York?"--that's less useful with the person who walks to the subway with me every morning.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My wish list is so long that it practically constitutes an entire store all by itself.

But that doesn't mean you have to like them or use them in either direction.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I have nebulous discomforts with them, but only in situations where it's me making that list. I like other people having them. Then I know what they want.

(This is probably in actuality a discomfort with putting myself forward in some respects.)

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Maybe also the way to find that Hungarian man?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

He is here (http://members.aol.com/HungImprts/). Or at least his contact info is.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Many thanks!

[skwirly.livejournal.com]

The appearance of Otto stories totally makes it the holiday season for me. ;)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's like the swallows returning to Capistrano! Only much, much tastier!

[retrobabble.livejournal.com]

Oh, and one more along the winter holiday lines: it's that time of year again! Time for me to bellow at a Hungarian man over the phone and wind up with sausages and spice pastes and many good things!

I love your Christmas. Srsly.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I love my Christmas, too! We do a pretty good job of them, I have to say.

[redbird]

If you don't know what book they'd like, and can't bring yourself to ask--either "what would you like for $occasion?" or "Do you have a wishlist?" plausible options include a check or gift certificate with a note saying "Here, buy yourself some books, or a shelf to put them on," offering to take them book-shopping (I've done that for friends), or of course getting something other than a book, because they know what books they want but you have found the perfect cake, or green sweater, or some such.

[erickavan.livejournal.com]

back when i could go out, i'd make a date with the person and we'd go to the bookstore together. we'd have a blast. it was especially great to do with the kids, cus they got auntie e time and we'd talk books, and that would lead to other things to talk about. some of my best memories with my niece nikki are of us on the floor at a bookstore, with different books strewn around us, discussing the relative merits of each.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have taken Robin to Wild Rumpus Children's Bookstore in Linden Hills before, and it was some of the most fun ever. Evereverever.

[atheilen.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Baking.

The main reason I want to get home is to start the Christmas baking. So much to do! Ten days to do it in! Can't wait.