Baldur

Baldur wishes it were snowing here, but it's at least seasonably cooler today.

Our computer is back home and life is good
I need to get used to the mouse again, it's so easy to use compared to the horrid little ratlette attached to the laptop
Though the ratlette is better than that stationary pad-thing that supposedly works like a mouse.

Dragon

Yes, Dragon thinks those little touch-pad "mouse" things on laptops were designed specifically to irritate people.

You can have some of our snow Baldur, they're currently in the process of shutting down the main hwy in the province and appearantly the Edomonton airport is shut down to Arrivals and Departures, so if you weren't planning on just hangin' at the airport I guess you're SOL.

Dragon is not a winter creature!

Baldur

If you all recall a while back Baldur posed a question:
Namely, tell us something about yourself that no one knows.
It was a popular question so being in the holiday mood let's tweak the question in that direction.
What item would you get thoroughly excited over if you received it as a gift?
This doesn't need to be a brand new car, or a year's maid service.
Even little gifts that no one has ever thought to wrap up for you.
This is somewhat an offshoot of another earlier topic.
People, especially my family are very bad at picking gifts that I would enjoy.
My friends too, tell me I'm downright impossible.
Baldur cannot imagine why.
How can one go wrong with skillions of glass beads?

Baldur

Baldur would love a gift of cheese. Not those overpriced mail-order types, though those can be wonderful too.
If someone went to the market and bought me a large wedge of Parmesan Reggiano, a mild Stilton or a wildly sharp Vermont cheddar I'd be ecstatic.
Throw in a few pears maybe some thin crisp ginger cookies and life would be perfect.
Santa needs to get ready to go to Woonsocket so until then:
HO HO HO

Dragon

Dragon would be totally stoked to receive The Beatles Rockband for Wii. Desperatly want to try it but to broke to buy it myself or I'd get it for miy sweetie for Christmas. (I must say though, I nice gift of a cheese and meat basket with some crackers would go over very well)

puzzler

You know Baldur, I thought what a great question you posed. Should I answer it in my usual flippant manner, with 'World peace?' No, I could do better and concentrated really hard on what I would really love to get, but try as I might, it just kept coming back to the same thing - I just want my family to be altogether at my house, pure and simple! If I have to smile and say, 'Thanks, that's just what I wanted!' to a hastilly bought present, at least I know they cared enough to make an effort and the important thing to me, is that they are home for Christmas.

Robindcr8l

That question makes me think of a similar question posed by my son to me a couple of years ago. You must understand that my son is one of the most argumentative 12yo's on the planet and has been since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He like to argue just for the sake of arguing. Doesn't have to be anything he's passionate about. His other frustrating quality is that he requires consistent nagging to get the most menial thing done. I go crazy.

So a couple of years ago, he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I knew he didn't have much money, and I really didn't want anyTHING. So I told him I just wanted one day of peace in my house. One day where he did anything I asked on the first request, and didn't argue with me at all. I truly believed this would make my birthday blissful and he would be pleased that it wouldn't cost anything.

His response?? "I'd rather buy something for you!"

Login

I have a 93 year old aunt who is housebound and has macular degeneration ... the central area of her vision is completely gone and she has to squint sideways at things to be able to see them at all. She is intelligent and still very aware of her surroundings. She's also as independent as she can possibly be, given her circumstances. She fills in an order form every week (with difficulty) for her weekly food shop to be delivered to her.

Today I asked her what she would like for Christmas and she said "A black pen that will write very boldly, so that I can see what I'm writing."

The simplest presents are the best!

Dragon

Every year I ask my mom what she'd like for Christmas and every year she says 'Don't get me anything'. I always want to say to her 'I'm going to buy you something regardless so you may as well tell me what you want.'

Liked your idea Robin, I remember once for mother's day I gave my mom a coupon book I made myself. It had coupons for things like Rake the Leaves or Clean the Dishes or Two Free Kisses. She seemed to really like it.

Baldur

Santa Baldur is back,
Can you imagine getting paid $100 (USD) for spending 90 minutes having fun?
This was my best Santa visit ever.
It was in a school auditorium and all the choldren were under 7 years old.
They were also genuinely excited.
I arrived to find them all in their Pyjamas (pronounced pee-yah-mees at Chez Baldur). The treachers and parents were trying to get them settled down for milk (or lactose free alternatives) and cookies.
When they saw Santa there was no way to get them seated.
I was mobbed in the parking lot, then again in the corridor.
When I entered the auditorium jingling my bells the roar of screaming was absolutely deafening, and Santa got mobbed again.
They were all clutching yellow tickets with numbers on them.
Whoever organized this assigned each child a position in line and attempted to call up only 5 to the front at a time.
It was more like pandemonium.

Baldur

treachers -r =teachers

maddyjean08

What Christmas present would get me excited...... I've been wanting a giant Barbie Dreamhouse type thing, but Barbies for it might be essential...... I have been wanting knee-highs. I'd go for the Dreamhouse.

Baldur

They had a huge sturdy wooden rocking chair next to a christmas tree waiting for Santa. Once I was seated, the charge person said they usually do storytime first.
She would read 'The Night Before Christmas', unless Santa would like to read it himself.
I do think she was shocked when I volunteered to read the poem aloud.
Baldur does not get to do this type of thing often, so in my best storyteller mode I held the book wide open so that the pictures were on display to the audience, and read it aloud using my peripheral viision to keep my memery in line with the actual text.
I confess the story might otherwise have gotten jumbled.
But the children were hooked
When I read lines I cued the children to yell out the last word were it was certain they would know it
'Not a creature was stirring, not even a.......MOUSE!'.

The reading went over well, Then Santa sat for 120 something photographs and handed out numerous lollipops.
One of the questions that came up was about my sleigh, where was it?
My reply was that I park it at a farm in North Smithfield, where it won't attract attention and then I borrow a pickup truck to drive into town.

Baldur

maddyjean, I would definitely go for the dreamhouse and as many accesories for it as possible

Baldur

memery -e +o =memory
viision -i =vision

Baldur

A little girl named Ava brought me a hand drawn Christmas card, I will hang that up and treasure it.
Another young lady also wrote out a huge Christmas list for me, two pages long.
I think that can go under the tree. Baldur had tried to slip it back to the mother, but she said she was given a copy. Heavens.

sheftali52

"What item would you get thoroughly excited over if you received it as a gift?" A good question, Baldur. Sheftali would do back flips if she received a good close-up lens for her digital SLR camera. I have always been fascinated with close-up photography, and the ability to expertly capture the world one little piece at a time would be heavenly. (Sheftali is saving to hopefully purchase this item in the future.) On the other hand, Sheftali would be pleased with just about any good quality kitchen gadget. My favorite gift of recent years is a rice paddle my sister made for me of koa wood. The rice paddle is pleasingly shaped, expertly laminated, and i think of my sister every time I use it! Yes, the simplest things are often the best.

Baldur

There were only 2 very young children who were hesitant to sit on Santa's lap. They still accepted the lollipops when handed to them thru their mothers though.

I do have fun with the photographs. There is definitely a golden moment right away that is best for the keepsake picture.
My job is to get them to look up at the camera as quickly as possible with a big beaming smile.
Usually I am successful.
I will point right at the camera with my gloved hand and tell them:
''Quick! say 'REINDEER'!
It's amazing how well that works. They expect to say cheeseand a different word will throw them off guard and they start to giggle.
If the next children in line waiting to see me are close enough to hear what I said, Baldur will switch the words on their turn.
Great words for this include: PRINCESS!, SNOWBALL!, JINGLE!

Baldur

thru +o +gh =through

Baldur

One of the best gifts Baldur received was from someone I hadn't known for all that long.
When my friend Frank met his future wife, I was quite happy for him. Lynn is wonderful. That first December I had them both over for a holiday dinner at the Baldur Penthouse.
She brought me a small wrapped package.
It was a very nice pair of scissors, tooled to be used by a lefthanded person. How perfect. I had never in my life been able to use scissors comfortable.
That gift trumped just about anything else I'd ever received.