I'm going to talk a bit about food. I'm about to head out for lunch with D - MIL has the baby - and I love some of the offerings at this place. They have some sandwiches that are permanent; others are seasonal. One of the seasonal ones is called "Thanksgiving leftovers" (even though Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet). It consists of Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, cranberry sauce, and Tofurkey on bread. I never had Tofurkey before, but it's actually better than turkey. And I love Brussels sprouts. I know, that might be unusual. And this place also has excellent cupcakes. So I'm looking forward to that.
I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I thought it might be bleak and depressing, but I'm enjoying it. It's about a dystopian world, but he's not dwelling too heavily on that aspect. I like how he writes about seemingly small things and finds meaning in them.
And finally...I really hate gift-giving occasions, like the holidays. That is, I like other things about the holidays, like seeing your family, and food. But I'm not big on gifts. I get stressed out picking them. It's really hard to figure out what someone else will like, and chances are they have it already. Every once in a while something jumps out at me and makes me think of a particular person. That's when I have the most success buying a present. But you can't count on it happening, and sometimes it happens at the wrong time. I found the perfect present for D about a week after his birthday. Fortunately, I waited for it, and got it then.
Which leads me to...I know there's a book out there about the 5 languages of love. I read about it on a blog and then I skimmed it online. The basic idea is that every person needs one of these things in order to feel loved: gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time or physical touch. I'm "acts of service" with maybe a dash of "words of affirmation." It puzzles me when people are "gifts." A friend of ours, his girlfriend is like that...so he bought her diamond earrings. He said you could really tell that she liked them and they were meaningful to her. I don't know, diamond earrings would be pretty meaningless to me. It's more meaningful to me when someone is there for me, when I know I can rely on them.
I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I thought it might be bleak and depressing, but I'm enjoying it. It's about a dystopian world, but he's not dwelling too heavily on that aspect. I like how he writes about seemingly small things and finds meaning in them.
And finally...I really hate gift-giving occasions, like the holidays. That is, I like other things about the holidays, like seeing your family, and food. But I'm not big on gifts. I get stressed out picking them. It's really hard to figure out what someone else will like, and chances are they have it already. Every once in a while something jumps out at me and makes me think of a particular person. That's when I have the most success buying a present. But you can't count on it happening, and sometimes it happens at the wrong time. I found the perfect present for D about a week after his birthday. Fortunately, I waited for it, and got it then.
Which leads me to...I know there's a book out there about the 5 languages of love. I read about it on a blog and then I skimmed it online. The basic idea is that every person needs one of these things in order to feel loved: gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time or physical touch. I'm "acts of service" with maybe a dash of "words of affirmation." It puzzles me when people are "gifts." A friend of ours, his girlfriend is like that...so he bought her diamond earrings. He said you could really tell that she liked them and they were meaningful to her. I don't know, diamond earrings would be pretty meaningless to me. It's more meaningful to me when someone is there for me, when I know I can rely on them.
Comments
As far as turkey, ugh.. my girls want it so I will have to get two turkey breasts since I will not tackle that huge bird!.
DK - True...they are all gifts. And interesting that Rich is "words of affirmation".
I'd like someone in my life who was 'quality time' and 'physical touch'. Lots of physical touvh ;()
I dislike gift giving holidays also unless I already know in advance what that person really wants. On the last trip back to the States I bought things for people in the US and then bought things to bring back to Germany and it gave me such anxiety! This year for Christmas I suggested we do a Secret Santa type thing and draw names with a 15 Euro limit on gifts. I think it will be fun and much easier.
SK - I agree, in my experience Secret Santa is always fun.
ps - Word verification: jumpo
(hee hee)