Welcome to December's Secret Subject Swap. Again 10 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.
Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.
Sit back, grab a mug (Christmas Blend is delicious as every year!) and check them all out:
Baking In A Tornado
Cognitive Script
The Blogging 911
The Lieber Family
My subject is
If you could give someone you love any gift you like what would it be and whom would it be for?
It was submitted by The Blogging 911 - thank you, Rena!
You guys have known me for a while, so you may guess that I'd go for the "save the world, stop hunger and cancer, make everybody happy" approach.
And I want to!
Also I'd love to set up a blogger get-together and fly everybody in to have a jolly good time. Kind of a sequel of the pool party.
Today's impromptu visit at IKEA changed it all, though.
I decided my gift is a one dollar hot dog, and I want to give it to my husband.
Excuse me?
Yes. a hot dog from the IKEA bistro for hubby.
Why?
Let's start at the beginning.
It has been a busy two weeks because my coworker went on vacation, and I had to cover for her. No gym, no Christmas shopping, no baking, no decorating, no blogging, booo!
However I did negotiate a half day off so I could go to IKEA. I feel one visit per holiday season is part of the fun. I have a special relationship with IKEA. I even made a cake for their birthday last year!
The first thing I saw upon coming up the stairs was this:
What a lovely campaign!
One of my high school friends just left her husband. I gave her a mirror that says "a smile is the prettiest thing your can wear" but you can't sit on a mirror, nor can you store clothes or books in it, so I'm sure she could use some new furniture for her empty apartment.
That'd be a nice gesture, but suddenly another idea hit me:
Something for my husband who is hard to shop for because he never needs or wants anything except Apple products which he keeps ordering himself!
He has a hard time parting with his stuff, so in theory he needs storage boxes, closets, you name it. He wouldn't appreciate getting them as a gift / hint, so that won't fly.
What he really wants is me-time. Time to himself to sleep in, read, and play with his iPad.
He works six days a week, and with everything going on in terms of hockey tournaments and Santa visits, he hasn't had a pajama day in a long time.
Once upon a time before Colin was born, and before hubby's business partner died, we used to go to IKEA on a Saturday afternoon - the busiest time because all the working people shop then (in Switzerland businesses are closed on Sundays). We would go there because we needed some pillows or a bathroom cabinet, and we would end up buying scented candles, a ficus tree, moose themed napkins and the like. And have lunch. Meatballs if we had time to sit down, or a hot dog to go.
And that's what I wrote on the card.
Also we would proud ourselves on spending time at IKEA without arguing. We kept witnessing couples fighting about which chairs to get or what color towels.
So I figured
You guys have known me for a while, so you may guess that I'd go for the "save the world, stop hunger and cancer, make everybody happy" approach.
And I want to!
Also I'd love to set up a blogger get-together and fly everybody in to have a jolly good time. Kind of a sequel of the pool party.
Today's impromptu visit at IKEA changed it all, though.
I decided my gift is a one dollar hot dog, and I want to give it to my husband.
Excuse me?
Yes. a hot dog from the IKEA bistro for hubby.
Why?
Let's start at the beginning.
It has been a busy two weeks because my coworker went on vacation, and I had to cover for her. No gym, no Christmas shopping, no baking, no decorating, no blogging, booo!
However I did negotiate a half day off so I could go to IKEA. I feel one visit per holiday season is part of the fun. I have a special relationship with IKEA. I even made a cake for their birthday last year!
The first thing I saw upon coming up the stairs was this:
Make a wish come true for a special person in your life!
This is how it works:
Using one of the cards below, tell us what makes this person special to qualify to win a surprise? What IKEA item do you want to dedicate to them? Proceed to put the card into our special mailbox, and we just might pick your wish!
One of my high school friends just left her husband. I gave her a mirror that says "a smile is the prettiest thing your can wear" but you can't sit on a mirror, nor can you store clothes or books in it, so I'm sure she could use some new furniture for her empty apartment.
That'd be a nice gesture, but suddenly another idea hit me:
Something for my husband who is hard to shop for because he never needs or wants anything except Apple products which he keeps ordering himself!
He has a hard time parting with his stuff, so in theory he needs storage boxes, closets, you name it. He wouldn't appreciate getting them as a gift / hint, so that won't fly.
What he really wants is me-time. Time to himself to sleep in, read, and play with his iPad.
He works six days a week, and with everything going on in terms of hockey tournaments and Santa visits, he hasn't had a pajama day in a long time.
Once upon a time before Colin was born, and before hubby's business partner died, we used to go to IKEA on a Saturday afternoon - the busiest time because all the working people shop then (in Switzerland businesses are closed on Sundays). We would go there because we needed some pillows or a bathroom cabinet, and we would end up buying scented candles, a ficus tree, moose themed napkins and the like. And have lunch. Meatballs if we had time to sit down, or a hot dog to go.
And that's what I wrote on the card.
Also we would proud ourselves on spending time at IKEA without arguing. We kept witnessing couples fighting about which chairs to get or what color towels.
So I figured
- the hot dog is a symbol for our idea of a peaceful and leisurely IKEA visit
- the hot dog is probably the least pricey item they sell, apart from the iconic blue bag - and wouldn't a person who wants the cheapest gift have the best chance of winning?
I left my card in the mailbox and went about my day - meaning back to the office.
I had to work not only to cover for my coworker who's enjoying time off on a deserted island, but pretty much everybody else. So much has been going on these days. Hubby who was supposed to be there, along with one techie, had to attend a funeral. Can't plan ahead for those events. A customer, a very nice man, died from a heart attack last week. So shocking and sad, he was only 54 years old.
What does that tell us?
There is (supposed to be) a life beyond work, and we should enjoy it to the fullest.
Get those hot dogs!
Enjoy some Grittibänze, baked by Grandma and her buddies at the nursing home.
Oh, and wear those silly, matching PJs!
What is it that you want to give to that special person?
Happy Holidays, and please visit my fellow bloggers using the links at the beginning of this post.
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment. It will be visible as soon as I had a chance to verify that you are not an anonymous user and/or a spammer.