Marty ended up getting Dad another gift -- a briefcase sized Thermos. That's Marty's oddity; she loves to give presents that a person actually needs. On the other hand, I'm all about getting a person things they would never buy themselves, something wacky or useless or just pretty to look at. I guess that's why I usually make folks some cross-stitch or something. I told Marty that she could get me Harry Potter stuff for my birthday, and she responded with, "Well, I think we're going to get you something more practical, like a toaster oven or cutlery or something like that." Blah. My stepmom isn't one to buy you things you need when you need them -- you get them for your birthday or for Christmas. I told her I need socks when I was at Costco with her, and she said that she'd get me some for my birthday. *sigh* Crazy woman.
Speaking of holidays, today I got the annual Hanukkah card from my grandfather's cousins. They are the sweetest people -- Betty & Myrtle, sisters that have got to be in their 80s by now. They were really good to my father when he was growing up since he didn't have much of a home life, and they've extended it to his children as well, which is why we get our Hanukkah cards each year, even though we're not Jewish. But the amusing thing is we get a $5 check in with every Hanukkah card, and when they send us cards for our birthdays as well. Dad usually grumbles when we get them, says that it costs almost as much to cash them as they're written for! Well, they mean well. And I think it's one of the sweetest presents we get each year, since we're not even really family. Very distantly, maybe.
And presents -- I totally forgot about my grandmother's present. See, she has this cat that has terrorized all the grandchildren for as long as she's owned it, about as long as my parents have been married, 16 years now. It's this white puffball of a cat named Mosey, and she is evil incarnate. She hates all people, except Grandma. She doesn't even tolerate Grandpa well. She hisses and bites at the grandchildren, so we've learned to leave her well enough alone. But now, Mosey is getting old. I found, a few years back, the perfect cross-stitch for Grandma -- it reads "Attack cat! On duty 24 hours a day." It says some more stuff, and it's got a white puffy cat sitting demurely in the middle, just like Mosey does before she decides you're her new scratch toy. So I finished it up this summer after having lost it for four or five years, and I meant to get it professionally framed. Well, that's not happening. Not before Christmas. So I'll just have to tell Grandma her present will be a bit delayed...