Dena Out Loud: November 2012

I'm on "vacation" this week from teaching. I used the quotes because I have papers to grade, class work to prep, and lots of typical mommy stuff to do this week, not to mention the job of cooking for Thanksgiving, getting our Christmas tree up, and organizing our holiday card photo... so I'm not in the classroom this week, but I'm not sitting around with nothing to do, either.

With that said, I arranged my day around watching Oprah's Favorite Things Episode last night. Sigh. I was disappointed.

I liked that she scaled back her efforts (i.e. smaller audience) and that she chose military wives--a group of hard working, self-sacrificing women in which to bestow her loot. And, for the most part, I liked the gifts, but I just didn't get into the way it all unfolded. The usual excitement/emotion was somehow missing from the event and I wound up feeling mad that I didn't watch The Next Iron Chef Redemption instead. EVEN WORSE... I had a brief moment where I wish I would have graded papers(4-6 page essays on education and Plato's Allegory of the Cave). YIKES!

Oprah's been doing this since 1997... did you know that? I just googled it because for the longest time, I had myself convinced that my mom came up with idea of gifting "favorite things" at the holidays. I know-- crazy. But the women of my family have been trading tea towels, Yankee candles, and the best-ever, comfy, fuzzy socks for such a long time that I thought, maybe, we were first to think of it.

My dad has always said, "There's no such thing as an original idea." For that, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that "favorite things" was not a family tradition ripped off by Oprah, but instead, an idea we flat out stole from her.

We started in 2002. And so, in my family, as with last night's Oprah show, we've lost the excitement and emotion for it. After all, in our price range, there are only so many candles, and kitchen gadgets, and puzzle books, and best-ever, comfy, fuzzy socks.Let's not even open the can of worms that is the economy, the jobs report, forseeable tax hikes, my dad's retirement... all that stuff that makes responsible adults feel guilty about buying anything these days. I'm not sure about the fate of "favorite things" this year.

But if I had a magic pocketbook...one that was bottomless with $5 and $10 and let me buy all the little gadgets and do dads for my sister-in-law, and my aunts, and my mom, here is my list of favorite things:

1. The Chocoveda Chakra Box of Chocolates