making things pretty…

stockings…

So I have this Christmas stocking problem. One part of me is partial to the cheesy faux fur stockings of my youth. The other part of me wants swanky cool stockings. The cheap part of me has so far won out and we use a mish-mash that’s been cobbled together over the years.

Perhaps someday we’ll actually get a mantel on our fireplace and maybe, just maybe, that will be the kick in the butt I need to get everyone fabulous socks for Christmas morn.  If the cheap part of me was asleep, or perhaps in a fudge-induced daze, the rest of me would totally order one of these stockings from Hable Construction. They are beautiful. Although I can already foresee the fights about who gets the mermaid stocking…

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1 comment December 5th, 2007

go away, nobody likes you…

Ok, so we’ve all noticed the onslaught over the past few years of 80s toys. Cabbage Patch dolls, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Trollz (nee Trolls), Pound Puppies, Transformers, Rubik’s Cube… we get it, ok?  You’re appealing to the nostalgia factor, expecting us to gasp “ohhhh, look! I had one of those when I was a kid!” while we swipe it from the shelves and head for the register.But you know what else came out of the 80s? “Know when to say when” and “Just say ‘No’” (oh, and my favorite, “This is your brain on drugs”).  The knowing when to say when? That would’ve been somewhere before you hit Popples. The whole idea behind cashing in on our nostalgia only works if you bring back things we loved. Look at that thing — it’s butt-ugly. Nobody loved Popples. Swatches, yes. Popples, no.No, no, no.  

* * *  For those who don’t know, Popples were stuffed animals that could fold back up into a ball. In full disclosure, I have to tell you that there are new stuffed animals out this year called FurBerries, which also unfold from a furry ball. My middle child *longs* for one of these this year — it’s her number one Santa gift. And so I caved, mostly because it makes my inner 13-year-old giggle to say “FurBerry.” Also, “furry ball.”

1 comment December 5th, 2007