Post 997

The twelve days of Christmas start on the 25th of December. This is the third day, so I should be giving you three french hens, but all I have is a gaggle of Canadian Geese.

Geese are a gaggle on the ground, a skein in the sky, and a flock when they're floating. Interesting, these specific old terms.

On the day after Christmas, DH took me down to Lush and we hit the post-Christmas sale. (Holiday specific bath products, 3 for the price of one.) WE got there half an hour after the shop opened, and the line to pay for things was out the door. People stood patiently in the wind with their arms packed with satsuma santa fizzies and hollydaze bubble bars. The soap was also on sale - first piece regular price, second two pieces of equal or lesser value for free. I had DH get into line while I darted to the bubblebars and went nuts. We stood in line for an hour with fifteen pounds of goodies. I brought them home, and wondered where to store them, then inspiration struck. I've been saving glass jars for some reason. Bubble bars and bath bombs sealed securely into glass will last for months, and look way cool on my bathroom counter!

I usually crush a bubble bar, augment the bubbles with ivory liquid and a wire whip, and make one bar last for five or six baths. I was profligate last night, used all of one carnation scented bubble bar with red glitter on it. I am fragrant and sparkly even now. And oh the mounds of creamy bubbles!

A friend of ours who does art is going to craft another ring broach for me. DH, in his single days, bought one ounce silver ingots for comparatively little money. Silver is expensive now. He pulled out two ingots, one for me and one to pay for the broach. He is a saint! King Copetua had nothiing on this guy for generosity.

Then we tried to deliver the silver. We were sure we could just drive straight to TY's house. WE called information, got a number, left messages that we were coming. We knew he was cleaning house so maybe the vacuume was on, or he was outside shaking a throw rug or something. We got to the neighborhood, and realized that instead of remembering exactly how to get there, neither of us had more than the vaguest notion of where he lived. We drove around for about half an hour, trying to find something that looked familiar. Last time we were there, he had a giant sattelite dish in his front yard as yard art. Without that beacon to sight on, we were lost. Still, we had a nice drive in an interesting neighborhood in the sunshine.

Finally, DH took me to the mall to fill out my Christmas giftings. I found two nice cotton turtleneck tees, and he spotted a lovely red long vest with pockets. And then I totally reached my limit for crowds and decisions and begged to be taken home. Instead, he took me to a japanese restaurant where we could sit down in a quiet room and I could eat sushi and drink ice water and let my back unknot. I get into crowds, and my back muscles macrame themselves into a defensive carapace from hips to the back of my skull. Mall rats who blindly run into me risk the laser glare and a snarled, "Watch it," while my inner Xena demands to be allowed to grab them by nape and crotch and hurl them through the nearest store window. My inner Xena NEEDED that bubblebath last night!

After lunch, though, the mall rats were polite and smiling. I still didn't look any more fetching in the clothes I tried on, but I have a closet full of clothes so I'll manage. DH, incredibly, still feels I have been shorted on Christmas gifts and need to hit the catalogs or the internet. He spoils me something terrible!

And then we came home, and watched Star Trek, the reboot on TV. Today, we are hosting our annual holiday party. Tomorrow, back to work.

From the blogs, it sounds as if mostly our holidays have been quiet and mellow. Hooray for us! May we have dozens more just like this.