For Christmas, Stoz gave me a ring...!

... pull opener. A ring pull opener - how thoughtful! :) Now I don't have to be phobic about opening ring pull cans anymore. (For those just joining us, I'm referring to my little accident about a month ago.)




It's been a while, so I guess I should update you a little:
* Christmas was hard and low-key.
* I finally went swimming (after two recommendations from my 'therapist'), and it took me five minutes to actually get into the water.
* I went and saw Happy Feet with Cara and Sammy.
* Sammy dyed my hair chocolate brown, but nobody even noticed...
* I am madly trying to organise everything in the rapidly disappearing number of days I have available - but what else is new, really?

It's not what it looks like!

Today I went to Seniors. Well, the Seniors Christmas lunch, that is. And I wasn't exactly there, so to speak, but more so in the kitchen... That's right, I was washing dishes for the Seniors! Apparently I was asked for by name... interesting, eh? If they thought I was a top dish-washer than I’m afraid they were mistaken - I must admit I'm an appallingly slow dish-washer... must need practise.

I like helping people. I’m not dynamic or charismatic, but I just like to help. I’d do almost anything you asked me to, not in a passive, can’t-say-no kinda way, but because I care. This makes it a little hard for me to understand people whose help-radar is set to low; not people who are uncaring, just people who have been made to react differently. They’re like getters rather than givers, but not in a bad way. Perhaps it’s all about intrinsic (inner) versus extrinsic (material) motivation (oooh, teacher words!)? I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m wondering… Are you a giver or a getter? Are you first to offer help, or first to expect it? What are the pro’s and con’s of being what you are?

O Tannenbaum

Yesterday Stoz and I went out and bought a Christmas tree! I'd never done that before, so it was very exciting for me. The tree was of course from our favourite store, Aldi (with which I happen to have the good fortune of sharing a street, I might add). The decorations are predominantly gold and blue, with some red for contrast, and as of yet no tinsel. We also picked up some LED lattern-shaped lights, because LEDs use less power and last longer, and so in Stoz's words are "good for the environment, good for the pocket" (plus they just have that 'cool' factor).

Finding the tree-topping star was the hardest part. We couldn't find anything that didn't look really tacky (there were nice glass ones at Aldi though), but finally found one in Safeway of all places. This was another LED decoration which does this cool fade between colours, retro fiberoptic tree style!

We got all the stuff back to Stoz's house and managed to set it up - a feat of several hours. The tree happens to have a 'bald spot' which is at least not so noticeable with the decorations on it. We didn't have enough lights to fit around it, and we hung the lanterns in the back room near the dining table (they look great there). So five hours from when we began, there is now a tree in his lounge room. Not bad for a first effort. In fact, I'd say pretty good.

P.S. O Tannenbaum = O Christmas Tree (German)

Decemberween

The first of December kicked off with the Odyssey break-up/Christmas celebration on the theme 'old, new, borrowed, blue.' Here's one of the better bon-bon jokes:

Two goldfish were in their tank.
One turned to the other and said,
"You man the guns, I'll drive."

Oh, I love a good pun. In other news, I am pleased to announce the very first of my weekly (or at least hopefully-regular) controversial questions! As we have just begun December, my favourite month, and are rapidly hurtling (tautology?) towards Christmas, why not have a Christmas-themed question?

The question: What would you tell your kids about Santa?
(please comment!)