November 2 ~ Think outside the box

My Mom just loved Christmas....  She had some wonderful traditions that have carried over in the family, but this one never caught on.  It was a bit strange, and actually pretty funny, so I'm surprised that I never used the idea.  You may or may not be old enough to remember this, but many years ago when you bought something that needed to be in a box to give it as a gift the store actually gave you the box...for free.  Shopping bags were also free back then.  When stores began charging for boxes and bags my Mother had her own little revolution.  She began "saving" all of the boxes that she could think of... cereal boxes, cake mix boxes, cold medicine boxes, candy boxes, shoe boxes, you name it..she saved it.  At Christmas she used these boxes to "wrap" all of the Christmas gifts under the tree.  It looked like a grocery store delivery gone awry... A bit unusual, but I thought I'd share this fun and funky idea. 

September 21, 2010 "oh look...a tie"

     I remember with great fondness all the years of buying my Dad a tie for Christmas. He was always very gracious and acted so excited and grateful for the lovely gift. Little did I know at the time, this was just another one of the hundreds he already had hidden in his closet with the hopes that he never really had to wear any of them. Yes, I did see him wear some of them, he had a job that required a shirt and tie, but most of them were boring to say the least. 
     A tie however is still a great gift idea for the Dad who has to wear one. What is really nice though, is to make sure that the tie suits his taste or expresses his personality. If you're even just a little bit creative you can make Dad a one of a kind tie that he'll surely cherish forever. Zazzle is a website where you can personalize a number of gift type items, ties being one of them. (Yes...I'm plugging another one of my shops here)... Here is a sampling of the ties I have available at my shop on Zazzle, but once you're there, you can start from scratch and design your own tie especially for Dad.

Design a personalized gift at Zazzle.

     While you're there be sure to check out some of the wonderful Christmas ties. However he feels about Christmas...form serious and sentimental to funny and sarcastic...they have 'em all.