But I like going with people to gift shop. I just don’t like doing it myself…. No pressure if I help someone else. Big pressure if it’s for me or someone I know.

Gift Closet? What a great idea!

I have a gift closet and shop throughout the year especially during major sales. Every time I see something that someone might like I buy it and leave it in my gift closet. At the end of the year, during b-days etc., all I have to do is to shop my closet for presents.

I hate going out in winter. Period. Unless it's for food, a craving for Pho or Starbucks, I don't venture out.

Or to eat at all. Some people forget!

http://www.wellheeledblog.com/2009/09/11/poach-pe…

And in the picture too

Oo.. hope you feel better Not having food makes me feel sick.. so I tend to eat like a squirrel the whole day

I generally like holiday travel though, driving through desolate nomans land during the height of bad weather season is always an adventure.

Like Thanksgiving few years back, freak snow storm on the way home. Got a call from Mom 1/2 way down the 250 mile road home that it had been closed, uh oh. Snow was 16 inches deep by the time we got to where it was plowed again. We had chains but my little Jeep pickup did not have 4WD and we were having to go 15-20mph cause I could barely make out the roadway. When we got into civilization and stopped to warm up and chip another hole in the grille for air, other stranded motorists started snapping pictures of the truck and asking OMG Which way did you come from!? The whole thing was white and covered in a thick sheet of ice, and the antenna was bent all the way back with ice sticking forward like a reverse flag. I thought it was pretty cool, C was not amused

Xmas after that, heater broke again and it was bone chillingly cold, luckily we had lots of clothes from our gifts. I had 4 pairs of socks on, my shoes wouldnt fit and C was bundled up in 3 mexican blankets I used for seat covers and still shivering. She was NOT happy! Had to stop every 5-10 miles to scrape the ice off the outside and inside of the windshield.

Another Thanksgiving, engine exploded in spectacular fashion leaving hunks of metal and a trail of smoking oil down the freeway at 270K on the odometer. Amazingly the Jeep still ran well enough to limp another 20 miles to the nearest gas station where we drank cappuccinos for 3 hours and watched an amazing sunset waiting for Dad's Inc. towing service. (Still havent gotten around to fix it and it still runs that way on 3 cyl, those things are indestructible)

Xmas after that in my first ever brand new car (lol), forest fire halfway between here and there. They had evacuated several communities and the wall of smoke looked like something out of the Grapes of Wrath. No other way through and when the wind calmed some they eventually let us stranded travelers through the thick smoke with sparks and embers blowing across the road in some spots.

C is usually not pleased at the time, but I tell her If everything went as planned you wouldn't have any cool stories to tell your coworkers

I really enjoy it.