The Trickster Grandma

Here it is, only 10 days until Christmas, and talk about a lot of pressure!  I still haven't completed the whole Christmas gifts thing.  Most years, I only do a little.  When I had young children, I loved to decorate.  I had so many knick knacks for Christmas that there wasn't enough shelf space, I had to take other things down!  Hanging lights, putting up a tree, making sure there were holiday scented candles to enhance the season ... yeah, that was me.  I did all that, and more if I could. 

I also liked to be the "trickster" during the holidays.  One year, all the kids got underwear gift wrapped beautifully, inside a cardboard box so they didn't know what was inside.  I would add a couple of marbles to the box to make it rattle enticingly .... lol.

One year, the gift for my then father-in-law was wrapped inside another wrapped box inside another wrapped box.  I think there were 7 boxes altogether.  The final outer box?  was from a 4-drawer filing cabinet.  hahaa  It was H-U-G-E.  And it was so very funny watching him open box after box .... lol  I still laugh thinking about it, and that was more than 30 years ago!

The past three years have been more difficult that others.  By the time the Day actually arrives, I'm so sick of looking at Christmas items that I just can't do it on my down time at home, so I haven't decorated at all.  This year, I put up the small Christmas tree.  And I decorated a tall cactus by wrapping red tinsel around it.  And bought a $2 bucket of plastic bulbs and hung on one of my bushes.   I know I might regret it later, having to take it all down quickly, but it's cheerful enough for now!  After Christmas is when my really busy point at work begins and I won't have much time or inclination to take all that stuff down and put it away properly. 

But what about all the pressures?  As far as gifts go, I have given up trying to buy something for my siblings, they both have much more money than I do and can (and do!) buy whatever they want for themselves.  So the one thing I have done for years now is to collect family photos and create a calendar.  Maybe they use it, maybe they don't, but everyone can use a calendar, and it's family.  I haven't had any work "relationships" worthy of gift giving, so I haven't.  This year, one of my gals gave out gifts, so now I feel a bit obligated to reciprocate.  I decided on some hand made coasters using some of my photography as a backdrop.  It will do!

Because my granddaughters are all teenagers, cash is Queen!  But I'll try to trickster it up and wrap them uniquely so there's effort or a surprise.  Last year, one's gift was wrapped 'round and 'round with packing tape until it became a small oval ball.  For another, I took zip ties and wove them together before zipping them up.  By the time I was done, it was a wall of zip ties, and took a lot of effort to clip them apart to get the money out!  lol yes, I am *THAT* Grandma!

Do you have any trickster stuff you do for the Holidays??

Ch..Ch..Changes

We live in a very changing world; there is something new that comes along very often in the technology field.  Me, I find it hard to keep up - not with the actual technology stuff, but how easy it is to spend many $$$$$ keeping up!

Today, I purchased a new phone.  And I stutter and stammer to think that for the $800 spent on a "computer", it's one that I carry around ~~in my pocket~~ !!!

Back in the day, say 1997?, when I upgraded my laptop from old and clunky to a bit updated, it didn't do near what my phone will do, AND it was $1200 and probably weighed in around 14 lbs if you included the charger assembly.

I got my first cell phone in 2005, a Kyocera flip phone.  When I upgraded around 2007, it was an ordeal. Someone took your phone "to the back room" and connected it via cables to try and capture all your contacts onto your new phone.   Your text messages were sent via the dial pad where 2 pressed one time = A, pressed twice = B.... etc.  You know the old drill.  The next time I upgraded it was to a "slide" phone so that I could text on the mini keyboard.  I got pretty good at it, but when I look back on it now, it seems clunky!








My last upgrade was in 2015 and it was to a Samsung S5, and I really liked this phone!  If replacing the battery would keep it working, I might have tried that.  But .... *sigh* ... I bit the bullet and bought a Samsung S9.  It's nice!  Sleek, slim, and a sexy glossy midnight black.  I got all the bells and whistles needed to make it a good phone, including the wireless charging pad.  Now that is REALLY something!  No wires, just lay it down and voila!

But the neatest part was after the activation of my new phone, there's a new App for Samsung (don't know if it's for other brands?) but I just opened the app on both the old and new phones, and it transferred all my data.  I figured contacts, photos, etc would transfer, but even my Calendar and Alarms transferred over too!  Now that's spifferific!

It truly makes me wonder .... what will be next??
And can I keep up???