panic time

 Christmas is coming

    I always feel like I have not gotten anyone gifts.  There may be some in the closet, or downstairs, or in my drawer, but I always feel like I have not found the right gift.

    This is something that I have felt since childhood.  I remember going to a local Wieboldt's store and buying my mother a hairdryer.  This was in the late 50s or early 60s.  It was on a stick and she could take it off the stick and dry her hair.

    She was thrilled, but I always suspect is was an over reaction to an underwhelming gift.  She never said she did not like it, but I have always wondered.

    My dad was easy to buy for.  Cigarettes, Brazil nuts and walnuts.  Give him those and he was a happy man.

    We thought.

    I have mentioned my dad several times, but here is a refresher.  He may have been a little "off."  My Aunt Jean died when I was about 8.  I did not go to the funeral or visitation because I was too young.

    But my dad did.  Later he told me Jean sat up in the coffin and said to him, "Carl, Dorothy is a witch.  Be careful."  Dorothy was my mom's and Jean's sister.

    Let me tell you, THAT leaves an impression!

    But I digress.

    So...nuts and cigarettes for pops.  That was a holiday tradition. When he worked, often he would get a tie or shirt, but nuts and smokes were the main gifts.

    When he died, Jackie and I were helping my mom clean out some things.  She told me to empty the cupboard on the back porch.

    I opened the doors and a ton of nuts fell out!  The cupboard was loaded with them.

    At least he smoked hte cigarettes.  

    And I didn't find the hairdryer when we were cleaning out stuff, so after 20 years of so she must have used it or tossed it.  I'll never know.

Peace and Love