Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for December 05, 2012

I love Val and Evie. My favorite people….this is such a goood family. They watch out for each other. “Sniff..” Makes youcry. :)

Boy, you gotta really hand it to Evie……This will make f-i-v-e kids to watch. Holly, Andy and Alex will be out ofschool for the holidays, possibly. Max and Lucy willbe the main item….thank goodness for the older onesto help, like Andy and Holly. They are family…they allpull together, especially during this time, to help Joanand Wally. How wonderful. I never really had much ofa family; it is wonderful to see this one-and a good one. :)

Andy is no problem – but the rug rats are not worth the trouble unless there is a big trade payoff coming up.

Make it something expensive – in more ways than one!!

I bought two purses in Paris for my daughter. All she did was drive us to/from the airport.

Oh they’d do it even without a gift – that’s what family is for. They’re just having fun with it. :-)

I think a box of chocolates from A La Mére de Famille should just about do it. And maybe a nice bottle of French wine.

A trip to Hoboken sounds good.

I think a nice dinner out and a small Parisian gift would be in order.

How did Hoboken do in the storm? Is there anything left to travel to? Up where we are, they’re still recovering from last year’s storms.

I’m rather glad the ‘one gift’ story line is over for now. I found it rather disappointing to be honest. In my opinion giving gifts to children, when done right, doesn’t teach them greed, rather it teaches generosity because it sets a good example.

I think it’s important to learn how to listen to people, to their interest and wants and buy, find or make gifts accordingly. For me it’s a joy to find the perfect gift and catch a person completely by surprise because I gave them something they didn’t even know existed, but that suits them perfectly. I don’t think I would have learned to do or like that, if my parents had considered gift giving at Christmas a chore or too expensive or too much effort.

Consuming mass quantities of alcohol as they discuss the nightmare it’ll be to take care of Max!

Holly and Andy CAN help, even if Holly will feel put upon…

You have to like the kid to get them the “perfect gift”. All I ever got from adults was the cheapest thing they could get that would look like a gift. My parents tried that with the grandchildren – I told them that Santa did not want them to do anything.Bargain basement irregular tube sox are NOT a gift that grandparents should give the grandchildren