Month: December 2008 (Page 4 of 7)

Yesterday was a good day. I started off the morning with our church’s annual Carol Service. The choir sang six pieces or so, and there was lots of Christmas carol singing. It was delightful. I also really like how the church is decorated from year to year. The evergreen garlands against the stone look really good to me.

In the afternoon, I went to see “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. It was interesting, but there was a character that I really didn’t like. It was a disobedient little boy. He made me angry to distraction. We’re supposed to like him at the end, but I was still angry with him for being so disobedient earlier.

After the movie, I stopped in at Staples. I’m running out of glue because we’re sticking stars on our lockers at school. Three big bottles of glue were $9. A giant glue refill jug was $14. I got the giant one. It’s a gallon! Sheesh! Anybody need some glue?

My friend Mike Weider is in town. He used to teach at school with me, but moved away six years ago. After living in St. Louis for a while, he and his family moved to Indonesia. His school has sent him to a conference which just so happens to be in Baltimore. Awesome! I’ll use his visit as an opportunity to add and advertise a new link to their web page in the right-hand column. –>

Yesterday we got together. He needed to accomplish two things: 1) His wife gave him a list of items to get from Target. 2) He dearly wanted to eat a crab pretzel from Silver Spring Mining Company Restaurant.

The restaurant experience was all he expected it to be. I told him he could close his eyes while he chewed his first bites of pretzel. I always do that when I’m eating something really good. I think shutting out all visual input lets you focus on the flavor of the food better.

The trip to Target was fun. He had to get some toys for Christmas, some onesies for his large 18 month old, some dragonfly towels for the bathroom, and some sloppy joe seasoning packets. Between Target and a later stop at Walmart, we were successful on all counts, except the dragonfly towels. We didn’t see those anywhere.

While in the toy department, I saw a bizarre item: A Barbie Advent calendar. It actually said “Advent” on the package. It seemed strange to me. Were they really using a Christian liturgical term to sell a product? What’s next? Barbie’s Ash Wednesday beauty kit? Barbie’s Pentecost dress?

Today is the day we give a bigger gift to wind up our Secret Santa celebration. The person I’ve been slipping gifts to is Principal Monique. I’ve been glad for a little help in the form of a questionnaire everyone fills out. It’s called an Elf Help Sheet.

Monique’s food favorites confused me a little. It said something about small cakes with frosting or something. It sounded too complicated. She specifically requested not to be given candy. That gave me a challenge. But she likes pink and green and and she likes candles. And pigs. And socks. I was hoping to find pink and green socks with pictures of pigs holding candles, but had no luck.

I found a pink poinsettia, which was just the ticket. I also had the tiniest pig in the world because it came free in a box of bandages Lloyd and Lauren gave to me. I rounded off the week with pink and green Post-It notes and feathery gel pens.

Today, I think I’ve done well. I went to TJ Maxx to look for socks. I hit the motherlode.