The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 12

On the twelfth day of Christmas, I celebrated it as I hope you were able to: with family and friends, fun and games, and lots of food and gifts. Merry Christmas everyone!

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas, I'm sitting here thinking about Christmases past. I saw a comment my niece posted on Facebook about my dad and his Christmas decorations. Dad decorated in a big way. He was creative, he was handy with tools, and Santa was his muse. We had a Merry Christmas sign that stretched between our house and Grandma's house next door. He had lights on the roof in the shape of bells and candy canes that blinked off and on. There was a motorized reindeer that pulled Santa up and down a chimney Dad added to our front porch. There was a large nativity scene. But the two big crowd-pleasers - and there were crowds, people always came to look around, Dad was even in the Dispatch once - anyway, the two big crowd pleasers were the Whirligig and the Star.

The Whirligig was a big red boxy thing - well, red on the base and plexiglass on the top. It was about four or five feet wide, four or five feet tall and about two feet deep. In it were turntables that whirled around - one was a carousel of white reindeer being ridden by elves. I seem to remember dolls dressed up in costumes from other countries, spinning around. My niece also remembers ice skaters. The Whirligig was something to behold, I tell you, powered by an old washing machine motor.

The Star was a big three-dimensional 5-point star that dad perched atop a 40-foot tower anchored to the back of our house...and then he lit it up. You could see that star for miles. My brother and I would watch for it whenever we were out in the car with Dad, trying to be the first to spot it.

At Christmastime, or really, almost anytime, "less is more" had no meaning for my dad. For him, bigger was always better and if you could make it move and light it up, it was perfect.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas, I spent the evening at a small party with friends I don't see nearly often enough. Great people, good snacks and an endless supply of specialty martinis thanks to Doug the bartender - what could be better?

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 9

On the ninth day of Christmas, I was banished to the kitchen and sat at the table listening to bags being opened in the dining room, gift wrap rustling, and Emily whispering to Chrissy "How do you spell Jeano?"

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 8

On the eighth day of Christmas, Chrissy, Emily and I visited my friend Pat and swam in her indoor pool. If you want to impress a seven year old, I recommend a beautiful, bathtub-warm indoor pool, with a poolside dinner of pizza and peanut brittle.

Being in the pool with Em is like being in the pool with an otter. She swims, she dives, she flips, she does handstands. She takes a running start from the side, jumps, tucks, and yells "Cannonball!" which, on second thought, isn't very otter-like but I'll bet otters would do it if they could.

A note about the pizza: Pat called and asked me what kind of pizza Emily would like. I asked Emily and she thought for just a second or two and said "Sausage. With those, you know, banana peppers." I was somewhat surprised but passed the info along to Pat, who agreed to order it, and I also mentioned it later to Chrissy.

Fast forward to me being at work and Chrissy and Emily hanging out, just the two of them. Chrissy told Emily she was surprised that she liked sausage and banana peppers on her pizza. And do you know what Emily said? "Oh, I've never had it before, it just sounds good."

The kid kills me. And she discovered she does, indeed, like pizza with sausage and banana peppers.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 7

On the seventh day of Christmas, I cooked dinner for my ex Joe, his dad, Joey, Chrissy and Emily. Chrissy and I invited them over so they could shower Em with Christmas gifts before she has to go back home. Get any group of Gioffres together and it's going to be loud, but it can also be fun. I'm grateful we can still get together as a family and get along. Joe helped clean up the kitchen after dinner and, as he was leaving and noticed that the tension on my front screen door is out of whack, he said he'd stop at Lowes and buy the piece I need and install it when we all get together on Christmas. 'Tis the season...

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 6

On the sixth day of Christmas, I had hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner, played a game of Mystery Date and am now watching Hannah Montana. Welcome back Chrissy and Emily!

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas I spent the afternoon with my dear friend K and she gave me a spectacular gift - she took me to a bar for lunch and taught me how to play Keno.

I don't know how or why I haven't discovered Keno before now. Legal gambling right here in Columbus - who knew? It's part of the Ohio Lottery, and you feed money into a machine, pick numbers, watch those numbers come up (or not) on a screen, and cash in your ticket with the bartender if you win. It was so much fun, and I can't wait to do it again.

Keno - the gift that keeps on giving, all year long.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my sister gave to me
a tinful of homemade cookies.

I can't stop to write much,
I hope you understand,
there's a cookie in each of my hands.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 3

On the third day of Christmas I spent the day receiving gifts from my boss M.

M is gay. I mention this only because his taste and sensibility heightens the level of gifts he gives.

He took his team - three of us - to Cafe Istanbul for lunch. There he gave us what he called "practical and whimsical gifts" in lovely gift bags with fabric handles. Not dollar-store gift bags. Inside were a rechargeable flashlight from Restoration Hardware, small cashmere handwarmers - that's right, cashmere - from Restoration Hardware, and the cutest little piece of china from Anthropologie that at first looks like a knick knack but is actually little flower-shaped measuring spoons.

After work we went to M's house, along with a few other co-workers, for drinks and hors d'oeuvres. There he gave us all a bottle of chocolate wine and a box of Lindt chocolates.

And speaking of cashmere - which I was, earlier, if you were paying attention - M has a tiny little dog that's almost a year old. The dog is part Yorkie and part something else. M loves the dog and M loves Ralph Lauren. It's all he wears, and it's all the dog wears. He - the dog - wore a tiny little Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater tonight. That's right, cashmere. And he owns it in two colors.

Dog dresses better than me.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 2

On the second day of Christmas, I FINALLY did a little decorating and trimmed my tree. I'm never one to decorate right after Thanksgiving, but this is a little late, even for me.

There are two things I have from my childhood that make me all warm and fuzzy each year I unearth them from the rest of the Christmas stuff.

One is my stocking. I'm not sure how long I've had it, but I believe forever is pretty close. It's red felt, whip-stitched around the edges in white, with a green felt Christmas tree on the front and my name embroidered on the top. It's sadly beautiful, and apparently lucky. Thanks to thoughtful parents and children, I think Santa has managed to fill my stocking most every year.

The other item is known in my family as the green bulb. It's a tree ornament that originally belonged to my mom's mom and it has to be close to a hundred years old. It's not especially pretty anymore; it's heavy green glass that has clouded over the years. But my mom loved it and began a tradition years ago of bestowing on some lucky friend or family member the honor of hanging the green bulb on our tree. I remember loving the anticipation of wondering who Mom would pick, and I believe it was totally arbitrary on her part.

Now that I have the green bulb, I have the power to choose who gets to hang it on my tree. I'm afraid the honor has lost some of it's luster now that Mom's gone, but I still love the bulb and the tradition. This year, I decided the honoree should be...me.

What can I say? Power corrupts.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 1

Did you know the Twelve Days of Christmas are the days between Christmas and the Epiphany?

I didn't, but if you did, good for you! Now - forget about it. For my purposes, the Twelve Days of Christmas are going to refer to the twelve days before Christmas, from right now to Christmas Day.

I'm going to try - everyday - to share with you little nuggets of Christmas cheer.

So - on the first day of Christmas I found myself in the Toy Department at Meijer, looking for a gift for my new step-grandaughter Emily. It's a lot of fun to shop for a child, especially when you're as out of practice as I am. I spotted one of the items on her list: a FurReal Friends Lulu the Cuddlin' Kitty (shhh, don't tell her). It's a furry white stuffed animal that reacts to movement and touch. The batteries are included! So I put it in my cart and, that's right, it meowed from one end of Meijer to the other. I can't wait to give it to Em.

Attitude Adjustment

I've had a little trouble getting into the holiday spirit this year, but it's better now. Here's why:

I went to a great party last night. The hostess, T, has thrown this party every year for 20 years now, inviting a dozen or so smart, funny women. T was diagnosed last January with ovarian cancer. She had surgery and months of chemo, but she's finally starting to feel better and the prognosis is good. Last night, to avoid getting sick from drinking too much, she chased her alcohol - a lot of alcohol - with anti-nausea chemo pills. Brilliant! Way to take those lemons and make lemonade. T is an inspiration.

Because of last night's festivities, I was dragging when I got to the office this morning. I stopped at our cafe for coffee. I whined a little to a wonderful woman, K, who works in the cafe. K gave me a FREE fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie to have with my coffee. A small act of kindness that made my day, combined with the healing power of chocolate chips.

I drank the coffee, I ate the cookie, and I started to feel human. Then I noticed on my calendar that I was scheduled for a massage at 10. Every month my company brings in a masseuse who does upper body massage for a modest fee. My boss had scheduled one for me - and paid for it - as a holiday treat.

Wow. Lots of good things happening in a short period of time. Maybe I should get over myself.

So here's to healthy, caring friends; thoughtful co-workers; and attitude adjustments.