I bought D a hard-sided roller case as well as a soft-sided one. She chose the soft-sided one to replace the ancient Delsey Helium soft 2-wheeled bag she had taken from me when I acquired a new 2-wheeled Briggs & Riley soft-sided bag. The bag was at least 15 years old. She likes having 4 wheels—it’s easier for her to push. It’s about the same size as her old suitcase as everything from the old one fits fine in the new bag.
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D is ending up with OnePlus8 TMobile phone that S bought H for $200 because it was such a great price. H doesn’t like it because it has too much pre-installed bloatware and not enough built-in ram as he prefers. D is happy to accept this brand new phone—much better than her existing one with the cracked screen.
She did turn down the kids thermals and the Nike sports bra and some “Darn” energy bars, so some misses too.
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My D and SIL enjoy cooking together. With covid I didn’t want to get them an in-person cooking class so I found place that does online cooking classes and got them a gift card so they could choose a class that they were interested in and that fit into their schedule. Turned out to be a hit! They were sent the ingredients they needed in advance and they said they really enjoyed the online class (as well as the food they made).
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What company did online cooking class? That might be a fun thing for S and GF. Thanks.
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I’ve taken in-person classes from Milk Street Kitchen (pre-Covid). (Same people a the Milk Street magazine.) I got my D and SIL a gift certificate so that they could take an online class or workshop.
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Zingermans offers online classes:
An Instagram follow that I love does “cool with confidence” series of classes tailored especially for the uncertain cook. I love her.
Thanks for these ideas. They may be useful.
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None of the links open for me once I go to the Cooking With Confidence website. Any ideas?
I would love these classes. I’m a great baker, but I hate to cook. I admire the ease with which my DIL moves in the kitchen – “Don’t have this? That’s OK; I’ll substitute that.” I make the same stuff over and over.
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Hit: underwear!!!
It surprised me too!
(The backstory: I had been ordering long-sleeved shirts, online, for my husband because his weight has increased a “little bit”, which involved me constantly shipping back shirts to his favorite vendors. It was getting to be a real hassle, in these pandemic times, to constantly re-package and ship.
So, the weekend before Christmas, I ended up at Macy’s, buying him a number of shirts with prints that I knew he would like- in other words, the same shirts he currently has, in bigger sizes.)
One of my daughters had asked me, previously, to pick up some camisoles (weather getting colder) and I ended up in the lingerie department. There was a mix/match “awesome” sale of the name-brand vendors. I ended up with 30 sets of underwear!
I had no idea that these would be such a big hit!
Nieces, daughters, my mom, my sister all ooing and awing underwear!
Shocker for me.
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The company I used was Cuiline. There are different options – I got them a gift card for a 90 minute cooking class with ingredients for two. They really enjoyed it. https://www.cuiline.com/
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My girls love underwear for Hanukkah. I usually check the clearance rack at Macy’s whenever I’m there. Also the Nordstrom anniversary sale and put it away till December. This year I just ordered some underwear from Target. My youngest said she was disappointed as she was looking forward to new nice underwear that she could buy Target underwear for herself.
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I always get my daughter fun socks (cheap ones with pop culture stuff she likes - Hello Kitty, etc.) She looks forward to these every Christmas.
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So I thought I’d share something I did differently this holiday season. I gave my kids (25 and 27) a “holiday gift” at Thanksgiving. I got each of them a small duffle bag, filled with rolls of wrapping paper (Christmas/birthday/solid color) and a couple of large ziplock bags filled with ribbon, twine, gift tags, tape, etc. It was a surprise and very much appreciated.
Later (over their Christmas visit) both commented how it was really helpful. I got a lot of satisfaction from giving it; and I admit I enjoyed bargain shopping for quality items. I collected things for months beforehand and got some very good prices.
I also liked the impulse buy I got from watching a morning show. They were interviewing Lauren Bush Lauren of the FEED Project. They sell products where a portion of the sale goes to provide school meals to children. I got my DD and son’s gf a couple of bags. They liked how they looked, their functionality and socially conscious value.
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Socks can be a fun gift. Alas, I can’t do that for my son and daughter because somewhere along the way they came up with a tradition of exchanging stocks. It may date back to Harry Potter books and Dobby character.
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Do you see the COMING SOON buttons? They aren’t active at the moment because it isn’t sign up time….I think she his opening sign up later this month.
She doesn’t cook fancy but relies on good BASIC skills to make people more comfortable in the kitchen - things like knife skills, how to season, cooking with protein, etc. She’s a fun follow on Instagram if you’re on.
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I got that for the previous Christmas (2020). My D knew I needed a new blow dryer, and got me the Revlon brush instead. When I opened it, I wasn’t too excited because I didn’t think I would use it that often and was thinking it was similar to the plug in hot brushes from my younger days. But after trying it, I too was raving about it to everyone I knew. It really is a game changer!
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Hmm… I see a few Revlon One Step on Amazon (and a bunch on ebay, not sure if that’s a concern). Which model, if any, would be good for fine, thin hair?
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My favorite gift was an air fryer. I asked for it when I saw it on sale. I really really like it…and how easy it is to use and clean up. And so far, everything I’ve made is delicious and easy.
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Yeah, I saw those, but I’m surprised that there aren’t dates or anything that tells you how soon it’s coming. 
I didn’t realize there are different models, but the person who recommended it to me has thin, fine, curlyish hair. It works well for her. I would guess they are all fairly interchangeable.
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