"And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

Wait a minute... it's March right? This is supposed to be Spring?! 

I was watching the snow storm coverage on Channel 12, and according to meterologist Mark Baden, once this storm is done, this winter season will rank as the #2 snowiest season on record.  I guess we haven't had this much snow since the 1800's.

Happy Easter!

And why is Easter so early this year?  Here's the explanation. 

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Speaking of Easter, last night, I asked The Spouse to stop at the drugstore after work to buy candy for The Preschooler's Easter basket.   When he arrived home, I asked what he got.  He said he got Hershey's Kisses and Dove Bars.

My Response:  Hershey's Kisses?  Didn't they have any chocolate eggs or chocolate bunnies?

The Spouse's Reply:  There weren't any.

My Response:  But we were just there this morning, and the Easter aisle was still full of stuff.

The Spouse's Reply:  There's an Easter aisle??

Apparently, the Spouse just went to the regular candy section and failed to spot the huge, pastel-colored stuffed Easter bunny marker two aisles over. 

Showing remarkable Easter/Christian spirit restraint, I refrained from sending him back there that evening. 

This morning was a different story though... a 24/7 drugstore is on his way to work.

 
To all who celebrate Easter, I wish you and yours a blessed holiday.
 

On a recent talkshow, Trisha Yearwood, the country singer, stated that a southern lady could say anything at all about another lady so long as she prefaced her comments by saying, "Bless her heart."  I am now going to talk about a female relative of mine.  Bless her heart.

"Aunt Betty" is a very generous woman.  She loves to give gifts, and her family and friends are the recipients of her generosity.

On the other hand, she has no qualms about re-gifting.  I know this first-hand.

I don't have any problems with re-gifting.  Heck, I've done it myself in a pinch.  I know there are some who think that the practice of re-gifting is appalling and is in bad taste.  I tend to be more practical.  If I know I'm not going to use it, why not give it to someone who will?

You can't just go re-gifting any old thing though.  I have certain rules I adhere to.  First, the gift must be unused and in good condition, and if at all possible, still in its original packaging. Second, the gift must be something that I think that the recipient will really like/use.  For instance, several years ago, we received a clock.  Although it is a perfectly fine clock, until I find someone who I think would really want/like a clock shaped like the continent of Australia, it will remain in my possession.    

The third rule, however, is the most important re-gifting rule.  You must destroy all evidence that indicates that you were the original recipient of the gift.   That means removing all labels and tags; checking to see if there are personal notes hidden within the packaging; and ensuring that the gift is not engraved with your name, a personal message, or any sort of date.

So, the preschooler received a Christmas gift from "Aunt Betty."  She had already gotten one that had her name on it, but Aunt Betty had "extra" gifts, gifts that were prettily wrapped but had no names on them.  Aunt Betty distributed these remaining gifts to the children in a random manner.  So, the fact that my daughter had gotten this particular gift was purely by chance.

When she opened it, she was delighted to see that it was a fairy ornament.  Fairies are very big in our house. 

When we got home later that evening, she wanted to put the ornament on the Christmas tree.  As I unpacked the fairy from the box, the first thing I noticed was that the fairy was carrying a heart-shaped charm that said "friend."  Then, I noticed that front of the box indicated that the ornament was from 2005.  I started to laugh.

But I stopped laughing when I recognized the handwriting on the top of the box.  It said, "To Betty, From Cora." 

"Cora" was my mother; she died in 2006.

And by some strange twist of fate my daughter, not one of the other children, ended up with this fairy, a gift that had originally been bought by her grandmother. 

Needless to say, we're keeping the fairy. 

But there is this decorative candle set we got... 

The holiday season is filled with traditions.  I'd like to share with you a favorite tradition of mine.  (If you'd like to share one of your holiday traditions, feel free to use the comment feature.)

When I was in high school at Brookfield East many moons ago (or perhaps even earlier at Burleigh Junior High -- we're not quite sure), a group of us decided to throw a holiday progressive party.   More than twenty years later, although the character of the party has changed and the number of attendees has dropped, we are still going strong.  I hosted it this past weekend.

A progressive party is a dinner party in which each course of the dinner is hosted by a different person.  When we first started, it made for quite the production considering (a) that parents had to be somewhat involved given that we were invading their homes and (b) that we had a limited amount of drivers since the majority of us did not have our licenses yet.  Dressed in our holiday best, we drove all over Brookfield in all kinds of weather for years. 

Over the years, we developed certain traditions.  We had traditional appetizers -- spinach balls from Mike, egg rolls from me, and "shrimp aujourd' ***" from Liz. The traditional game held at the after-party was charades.  (I think I've mentioned before that a lot of my friends were drama geeks.)

The traditional team match ups for charades were the Catholics against the Protestants (not sure how that got started), with one or two of the Catholics having to be re-baptized Protestant in order to have fair team sizes.  One memorable moment was when someone was able to get his/her team to correctly say "Sussudio" a song by Phil Collins.  (I told you we were geeky.)

Even when people went off to college, we all managed to reunite at Progressive time, sometimes even bringing boyfriends/girlfriends, and yes, we forced them to to play charades.  Remarkably, one or two of them forgave us and married our friends anyway.

When we got tired of actually progressing, friends hosted the entire party at their homes, or we all decided on a restaurant in the area.  As people began lives out-of-state and parents' sold the family homes, the number of attendees gathering in Brookfield dropped.  Several of my friends moved to the MInneapolis area, and they have their own version of Progressive in Minnesota.  I had Progressive at my house for the few remaining in the Milwaukee area.

The party was off to a shaky start when the spouse and I discovered that our corkscrew had gone missing.  This necessitated a quick call to the neighbors who, god bless 'em, lent us theirs.

As we sat at dinner, we reminisced about old times, lamented our "old age," and exclaimed over the fact that our friends have a daughter who is now in high school.  Kudos go to my spouse who cooked a great meal and to my friend Kathy who made the traditional spinach ball appetizers.

Good food.  Good friends.  Good times.