Ten Things Tuesday

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I hope you’re all having a lovely day, whether you’re celebrating or not!

As I promised last week, here are ten things I gave for Christmas this year:

1. To my beloved, I gave a college course! I’ve been DYING to tell you all about this, but since I’m not sure whether or not Mr. Chili reads this space, I didn’t want to give my surprise away.

For as long as I’ve known him, my husband has said “if I weren’t an engineer, I’d be an architect.” Well, we happen to have a technical college in our general neighborhood which happens to have an architectural design program, so I called the school and talked to the program chair about enrolling my husband in a course. I explained that Mr. Chili has a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering and he works in design and with computer aided design programs, and the director believes that he can probably skip a lot of the prerequisites. We decided to put him in a Construction Management course. If Mr. Chili decides he doesn’t want to take the course - or the professor decides that he doesn’t have sufficient experience to do well in it - he can drop the class, all of our money will be refunded, and he can start again in the fall.

I gave him this gift last night at his parents’ house - his mom and dad wanted to give him the textbooks he’d need for the class. I wrapped a certificate that I’d printed up on the computer at the bottom of a box that also contained wrapped pens, a notebook, a bunch of rulers and triangles and protractors, and a highligter. I was nervous that he wasn’t going to like the gift - I’m always nervous about BIG presents - but he did. His only hesitation is that he may be in New Mexico for work during the end of the semester, but he can work that out with his professor when the time comes.

Phew!

2. Punkin’ Pie got a “boy Barbie.” We had a really fun conversation not too long ago (in a restaurant, of all places - we always seem to have these kinds of conversations in public) in which she complained that she had far more girl dollies than boys. When we asked her if she had at least ten Barbies, she said that she thought she did, so we went on to explain to her that, statistically, one of those girl Barbies is likely a lesbian. She was okay with that, but thought it’d still be nice to have another boy come to the party. I opted for the Prince Charming version rather than the Beach Bum Ken. Yes, I’m imposing my preferences on my daughter. Wanna make something of it?

3. My nephew, Noodle, wanted the Pirates of the Caribbean version of Life. I finally found it (after much hunting) and so it is his. I got Bub, Noodle’s older brother, a trebuchet and battering ram for his Battleground set. They’re such boys!

4. For the Goddess at the front desk of TCC, I got a Stonewall Kitchen jam sampler. She loved it. For Joe, my boss, I delivered a set of SK grilling sauces. I hope he likes them.

5. I got a great, soft, cuddly woobie sweater for Aunite. It’s classy and understated - I knew as soon as I saw it that she’d love it.

6. WeedWoman and her husband got books - an art book for her and a model shipbuilding book for him. I also gave WeedWoman a weeping Buddha.

7. The girls got a couple of DVDs - the latest in the Harry Potter series and the newest Pixar joint, Ratatouille - and an edition of Boggle. I can’t WAIT to play that with them.

8. My mom received from me two pounds of Godiva coffee and a yummy warm sweater.

9. Bowyer and Tonks got books - Bowyer’s got a wish list on Amazon (I LOVE it when my friends do that) and he told me that Tonks wanted a zombie book, so off to Amazon I went! They arrived in PLENTY of time and were among the first things I wrapped this year.

10. Xena got a silver bracelet, because I want her to feel as beautiful as she is.

Happy and merry, peaceful and bright!

image credit