easier to pack, certainly
Dec. 22nd, 2013 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueA full house for the holidays; Uncle Rex and sister REL both currently in residence and friends Ed and Ashley coming up the day after Christmas. There are enough beds for everyone, but Rex is sleeping on the sofa anyway, which is not a bad choice because it is a comfortable sofa.
Ciro and I were not able to buy anyone Christmas presents this year, even cheap ones. (We were not for instance able to send Christmas cards, which cost just a card and stamp.) Our savings were totally wiped out by funeral costs. Almost exactly; we didn't go into debt either. I could theoretically put presents on a credit card since by the time it became due, three more paychecks would have come in, but I'm expecting some medical bills and don't know how much they'll be, so I'm erring on the side of caution.
(Oh the joys of the American health insurance system, where you have no idea what a procedure cost you until months after it happened, and even then have to figure out what in hell the various codes mean that made the same visit cost vastly different amounts in two different months. With no help from billing, since they're not the coders. You can't contact the coders. Massachusetts recently passed a bill that insurers/hospitals/doctors have to tell you up front how much you'll pay out of pocket and then honor that, and even have to tell you the nearest alternatives and their prices, but it hasn't fully gone into effect yet. Which will get health care back to something like a marketplace, which it right now certainly isn't.)
Fortunately my family are not big presenters to begin with. Mom and Dad do sometimes get splurgey sorts of things that are group-ish presents, like kitchen equipment or game systems. Last year, Ciro and I slightly parodied this with the gift of the Gabrielle Stott Memorial Nut Grinder (so that we can remember Mom while grinding nuts, even if she isn't standing right there which she usually is), but it wasn't really a parody because we use that nut grinder all the time. If you wonder whether a nut grinder is worth $10, I tell you now that yes, yes it is.
In any case, I have been getting people conceptual presents - pieces of paper that say what I would have gotten them if I could get them something. The beauty part of this is that since I can't get the things anyway, I can get things that I really couldn't get - things from the future, animals that don't exist, awards from bodies which do not give out awards, etc.
If you are yourself in a bind Re: presents, I offer this as a solution you too can use. So far, although I don't have time to make anything really pretty, I have at least used nice stationery and nice inks, but really you could write something on the back of a receipt in a pinch. Run into somebody you want to give a gift to when you're out and about? Just duck into the restroom and scribble something witty that shows how well you know them.
I do suggest clearly labeling it as a concept present, though. Because conceptual art reminds people of Yoko, and who better to think of, really.
Ciro and I were not able to buy anyone Christmas presents this year, even cheap ones. (We were not for instance able to send Christmas cards, which cost just a card and stamp.) Our savings were totally wiped out by funeral costs. Almost exactly; we didn't go into debt either. I could theoretically put presents on a credit card since by the time it became due, three more paychecks would have come in, but I'm expecting some medical bills and don't know how much they'll be, so I'm erring on the side of caution.
(Oh the joys of the American health insurance system, where you have no idea what a procedure cost you until months after it happened, and even then have to figure out what in hell the various codes mean that made the same visit cost vastly different amounts in two different months. With no help from billing, since they're not the coders. You can't contact the coders. Massachusetts recently passed a bill that insurers/hospitals/doctors have to tell you up front how much you'll pay out of pocket and then honor that, and even have to tell you the nearest alternatives and their prices, but it hasn't fully gone into effect yet. Which will get health care back to something like a marketplace, which it right now certainly isn't.)
Fortunately my family are not big presenters to begin with. Mom and Dad do sometimes get splurgey sorts of things that are group-ish presents, like kitchen equipment or game systems. Last year, Ciro and I slightly parodied this with the gift of the Gabrielle Stott Memorial Nut Grinder (so that we can remember Mom while grinding nuts, even if she isn't standing right there which she usually is), but it wasn't really a parody because we use that nut grinder all the time. If you wonder whether a nut grinder is worth $10, I tell you now that yes, yes it is.
In any case, I have been getting people conceptual presents - pieces of paper that say what I would have gotten them if I could get them something. The beauty part of this is that since I can't get the things anyway, I can get things that I really couldn't get - things from the future, animals that don't exist, awards from bodies which do not give out awards, etc.
If you are yourself in a bind Re: presents, I offer this as a solution you too can use. So far, although I don't have time to make anything really pretty, I have at least used nice stationery and nice inks, but really you could write something on the back of a receipt in a pinch. Run into somebody you want to give a gift to when you're out and about? Just duck into the restroom and scribble something witty that shows how well you know them.
I do suggest clearly labeling it as a concept present, though. Because conceptual art reminds people of Yoko, and who better to think of, really.
