Yes, Virginia, There is a Gloating Day

Yesterday, I went to Tea with my best friend, home for the holidays from California. I didn't think to take any pictures of, you know, my FRIEND--or of her adorable 17-month old twin nephews--but I did snap this picture of the tea room's Christmas tree and hat collection (available for wearing during your tea experience). Note the row of teapots in the background.

We had a lovely time, and afterward, went to the movies to see "Pursuit of Happyness" with Will Smith, which was really good, if a little slow in the middle. He did an excellent job, though--as did his real-life son, playing his son in the movie.

Today, of course, was Gloating Day here in the Chappy household, so as dutiful Gloaters, Mom and I headed off to the mall this morning, bought some Peppermint Mochas from Starbucks, went to our favorite bench and, well, gloated.

It was an unusually sociable Gloating Day, though--we had one man ask for directions, and several people smiled at my knitting (because, yes, of course I was knitting--once I'd finished my coffee). But our favorite? We made a new friend! After we'd been there about half an hour, a nice, friendly woman named Virginia stopped and asked, "I hope you don't mind, but--I walked by a half an hour ago and you were still sitting there, and you're drinking coffee and . . .knitting! . . . and I'm just wondering . . . what are you doing?" We explained that we were Gloating, that we do it every year as a tradition, and so on, and she was just delighted by the whole idea. She said she was SO glad he'd stopped to ask. She even said that she's writing a detective novel and thought about using this idea, maybe for one of the clues--which would be very cool, wouldn't it? I'd love to see Gloating Day spread even further.

Mom says that, next year, we should have buttons.

This afternoon, after Gloating, my friend Cindy came over. We exchanged our own presents, but she also brought one for Chappy (a Fat Cat Rainbow Trout toy)--here's an action shot of him opening it.

Hey--how nifty is this? I got a comment yesterday from someone who's so impressed by my wonderful Chappy, that's she thinks she'll be getting a puppy from . . . the same place we got Chappy. Woohoo! I love that "small world" thing . . . she fell in love with the breed because of Chappy, and the kennel she found with available puppies just happens to be the one Chappy came from . . . I love the irony of that (grin). And Chappy's very excited for her. That's my boy . . . spreading joy-through-Boykin-Spaniels throughout the world.

Now, I've been tagged for the Six Weird Things meme.

"The Rules: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you have been tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog."Six weird things about me."

1. I don't like abbreviations, and rarely use them. I'm not talking about "Mr." or "etc" or "St." I mean the IM/text-message abbreviations that have snuck into written correspondence. I don't have any real objections to things like "LOL" but, darn it, words deserve a certain amount of respect. Hence the fact that I indicate laughter by spelling out "(grin)" in my posts, rather than doing smilies or using "LOL."

2. Similarly, I'm a stickler about grammar, too. The fact that so few people seem to be able to tell the difference between "your" and "you're," or "its" and "it's" just seems so sad to me....

3. I cannot go to sleep at night without reading first. Almost no matter how tired I am, reading in bed is a requirement. An addiction, even.

4. I'm terrible at mending things. I can make all sorts of things from scratch, but ask me to do anything more complicated than sewing on a button or, maybe, repairing a split seam, and forget it. Patches. Darning. All of that stuff, I'm just totally inept.

5. I hate clutter. I'm not a neat freak, exactly, but in my own "space," I need things to be organized and tidy. It's like everything I've got out on my desk is taking up a portion of my attention, whether I'm actually working on it at the moment or not, and if there are too many things, I start to feel scattered and strung-out too far. Being organized makes me feel much saner.

6. I hate returning things to stores. Unless something I buy is actually broken, I'd almost rather keep something that's not quite the right color or size or whatever than to go to the trouble of taking it back. Once I bring something home, it's mine. Which also explains why I don't like borrowing books from the library, either--you have to give them back. I'd rather have my own.

And, no, I'm not actually tagging anyone . . . but please, feel free to adopt this! I've been enjoying reading these.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope Santa's good to you. Whether you celebrate or not, have a wonderful day!

Comments

[Eva]

You'd hate my job LOL... On friday I had 2 examples of the wonderful english I encounter... coming from the Head of the English Language Department of a big UK University came a text with the words "invitated" and "payed"... instead of "invited" and "paid"... would you send your kids to a university to learn english if they make mistakes like that??? I wouldn't!!!

Oh, and I can't work on a clear desk... it makes me nervous... my desk looks like a bomb exploded there hihihi.

[Carole]

Gloating day is a wonderful tradition. Merry Christmas.

[CindyCindy]

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Chappy looks pleased with his trout.

[Teyani]

Love the gloating day concept. and even more than that, it's fabulous that someone stopped and asked you what you were doing! I hope it makes it into her book, too.

[Bonnie Cocuzza]

Deb I've enjoyed Chappy so much that Friday my son and I drove to Kittanning and I came home with 2 Boykin puppy girls. They are Sophia Leigh and Sarah Jessica. I'm thrilled with them!
I can't thank you enough for introducing Chappy to me on your blog. Now some day I will get back to blogging and post pics of my girls.
Thanks again.

[Chris]

What a great toy Chappy got!! Whew - I'm glad I can say I'm able to use its/it's, they're/their/there, and you're/your. :)

[Jenny Raye]

Does Gloating Day mean that you have finished all grocery shopping, too? Actually, I was even finished with that. Just didn't have time to go gloat as we were preparing for our Christmas Eve party. I might have to try it out next year on the 23rd, too. The 24th is just too busy.