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Christmas in July

Holidays in my family tend to be spread out over a period of months. What with parents, siblings, step-parents and, in the past, in-laws and step-in-laws, it was hard to get everyone together in a room to celebrate. I've exchanged Christmas presents into February and March. In fact, at my sister's baby shower a couple weeks ago, my step-brother's wife exclaimed, "Shoot! I forgot to bring your Christmas present!"

My birthday is turning into a long term celebration. So far my grandmother and father have figured out the beauty that is mailing a check. Instant, appreciated, flexible. I plan to buy myself a heart rate monitor. It's something I haven't purchased for myself because it's not within my price range for unnecessary purchases/luxuries. Do I really need one? No. Have I wanted one? Yes. Am I an odd duck for wanting a heart rate monitor and for possibly purchasing one with my birthday money? Perhaps. Anybody know a good brand?

My mother and I exchanged gifts this weekend. I gave her a Baggallini because she almost stole the one Friendster Guy's parents gave me for graduation. It's a very cool bag/purse. I brought it with me on vacation and it held everything I needed including my cell phone and sunglasses.

My mom got me the jewelry organizer I asked for. I know, I'm weird. But again, it's something I wanted but didn't need to invest in with a birthday coming up. This one is great. Two sided, canvas, very sturdy. I can actually see my jewelry. Of course, I can also see how much of it I don't wear, and how much is ugly. But at least I can see it.

She also got me a Harry Potter watch. Kind of like this one only mine's brown and gold and has Hogwarts on the flip side. I suppose this was the frivolous birthday gift, neither asked for nor expected. I don't know how often I'll wear it, although it is actually quite nice looking for a merchandising item. At least I have the jewelry holder to put it in.

Finally, my mom got creative. There is a dessert she makes called Denver Pudding which I love, love, love. It's along the lines of a molten chocolate cake. Part is cakey, part is puddingy. Mmmm, I just drooled a little on the keyboard. For some reason, I've asked for and received the recipe from her a bagillion times and then I lose it. I asked for it again when she started posting recipes on her blog. (I'm not linking because I don't want my family to know this blog exists. I'm paranoid she'll be able to link back. I may "come out" in the future, so to speak, but only after I archive everything and then erase the archive for public consumption.) For my birthday, she tea stained some paper, printed the recipe in a script font, ripped the edges to make it look even older, and then framed it. Now I can't lose it because it will be hanging on a wall or sitting on a shelf.

Honestly, I don't care if I get any presents or not. I've been in purge mode so I don't feel the need to collect more stuff. To me, it really is the thought that counts. I would have been happy with just the recipe. For the record, she says it comes from the Fanny Farmer cookbook she purchased in 1972. If she posts it on her blog I'll cut and paste it for you.

Comments

jt said…
Polar is the heart rate monitor king for runners. Get the model that you can also use to communicate with your PC, and you can spend hours looking over your workouts and races (instead of actually running). :-)
9:08 AM
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