Christmas in July August.
If you have been paying any sort of attention, you'll recall that the very lovely and extraordinarily gracious Poppy and I have a rather bizarre yuletide custom*.
Basically, it's this: We try to get for each other the cheapest possible gift we're sure the recipient will love. This is pretty hard, when you stop and consider it. Anyone can get a praiseworthy gift with an unlimited budget...it takes a rare genius to harvest the same response for a buck-fifty.
Poppy managed to really steamroll me last year when she managed to find, in her dad's (dad's?) attic, a lovely vintage automotive print. I was very humiliated by this stinging defeat. I swore constant vigilance.
Yesterday, the Fates cut me a break. I was cleaning out my office when I chanced upon something I'd gotten as a gift-with-purchase for something I'd bought TFBIM around 1997. The minute I saw it steady and whole, I shouted in my heart "Poppy! Christmas!" and just knew she'd love it.
One of the advantages of knowing someone before she (or he) developed a blog-persona is that you know all the intricate likes and dislikes that really don't get airplay, blogwise. Some things are just dull bloggery, or wouldn't go for more than a couple of anemic paragraphs.
But, you spend an evening hunting down an illusory sushi restaurant in Boston, or riding in the same tow truck or discussing whether a certain garment overemphasizes a certain feature and, well, you learn things about people. This is key if you intend to be any sort of half-decent gift giver. So, when you find something that pushes multiple buttons on someone's giftage panel, your heart sings.
5 months to go, Poppy!
-J.
* Last year we established another one, The Passing of the Book. But that's not the point of this post.
Basically, it's this: We try to get for each other the cheapest possible gift we're sure the recipient will love. This is pretty hard, when you stop and consider it. Anyone can get a praiseworthy gift with an unlimited budget...it takes a rare genius to harvest the same response for a buck-fifty.
Poppy managed to really steamroll me last year when she managed to find, in her dad's (dad's?) attic, a lovely vintage automotive print. I was very humiliated by this stinging defeat. I swore constant vigilance.
Yesterday, the Fates cut me a break. I was cleaning out my office when I chanced upon something I'd gotten as a gift-with-purchase for something I'd bought TFBIM around 1997. The minute I saw it steady and whole, I shouted in my heart "Poppy! Christmas!" and just knew she'd love it.
One of the advantages of knowing someone before she (or he) developed a blog-persona is that you know all the intricate likes and dislikes that really don't get airplay, blogwise. Some things are just dull bloggery, or wouldn't go for more than a couple of anemic paragraphs.
But, you spend an evening hunting down an illusory sushi restaurant in Boston, or riding in the same tow truck or discussing whether a certain garment overemphasizes a certain feature and, well, you learn things about people. This is key if you intend to be any sort of half-decent gift giver. So, when you find something that pushes multiple buttons on someone's giftage panel, your heart sings.
5 months to go, Poppy!
-J.
* Last year we established another one, The Passing of the Book. But that's not the point of this post.
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