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Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Christmas oh my God.

Today I went to my daughter's house, the impresaria of holiday spirit, to visit her and my darling grandson. She has her Christmas tree up already--that is her way.  And why not?  It is December and the season comes but once a year, etc.  As a side note, she and all of my other children have already begun the gentle chiding about my own propensity to delay the tree-trimming till Christmas is almost upon us.  I have made a plan to put up the tree on Dec. 13 or maybe 14--the day of, or the day after, running son's birthday.  So back off, you chiders. (See how many letters "chider" and "child" have in common?  Coincidence?  I think not.)

Anyway:  she had a splendid apple-green satin ribbon garlanded around her tree, which I admired.  I'm a little bit of a ribbon freak, actually. I'm pretty sure that my first membership to Costco was a direct result of their awesome ribbon--in large spools! for economical and super-stylish gift-wrapping!  It turns out, however, that she obtained the splendid ribbon from Taipan Trading Co.  So I thought perhaps I'd swing by.  

I said, "Well, it's the middle of a weekday--there probably won't be so many people."  

My daughter gave me a tiny look which, in retrospect, I think must have been a pitying one.  "It's not that the store is so crowded," she said.  "It's just that it's so overwhelming because it has so much stuff."  

Let me see by show of hands how many of you have been to Taipan Trading Co.  Still alive, are you?  That's nice.  In the case of my own visit today, however, you can probably guess that (a) the store was crawling with women--young, old, in-between, and bewildered out of their minds, clutching spools of shiny, shiny ribbon (that one was me); and that (b) the store has a powerful tendency to suck the brain clean out of your head, leaving the interior tastefully decorated with country knick knacks, large mirrors, vases full of potpourri, and, of course, festooned with lots and lots of ribbon.

I emerged with two rolls of brown kraft paper (the kind you used to wrap postal packages in), one of white paper with blue snowflakes, a roll of cello wrap (for all my food gifts!), five spools of ribbon, and sundry other items including a bag of caramel popcorn--why? But surely, surely, this season, my presents will be stylishly wrapped.  And I can just about guarantee that there will be a tree, bedecked with holiday cheer well before the holiday itself, to put them under.

5 comments:

  1. ha ha ha ha ha! You were nno match for Tai Pan. You need to go with a vet like me, I know the ropes. Glad you found some good finds. PUT YOUR TREE UP!

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  2. I want a present from you! Well, I want a sophisticated and modern-chique wrapped box from you. There doesn't need to be anything inside it.

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  3. I'm with Diane. I want a present from you, too. I love ribbon BTW. I always save it and never reuse it because I DO NOT WANT TO SHARE IT.

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  4. I am again in awe of you. You went into Tai Pan? Just driving past Tai Pan billboards makes me feel, um, like I need to get in the fast lane quickly before it sucks me in and I.can't.get.away.without.something that looks like it belongs in my neighbors' houses. Crafty is still on my list of too scary, a throw back to the one time I agreed to participate in a SUPERSATURDAY at the church and realized that crafts were only good if my crafts matched all of the other crafts. Gaaaa! I gave everything I attempted or purchased to my five-year-old daughter so if anybody saw any of it I could say she made it...sorry Jessie.

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  5. I save all the ribbons my sister gives me and I don't reuse them, because the occasion never seems big enough. That said, I will try to give them to you.
    I can't ever shop for ribbons, but I saw some at Costco and I thought, "Ooh, pretty" as I passed by on my way to the cheap produce.

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