The More Practical Christmas Presents

Sometimes Christmas presents can be more practical items.  They may not necessarily be fun but they can be just as appreciated.  Particularly if it is an item that the user needs or uses everyday.  We had a few of those this year as well.

Winter Coat

Of course, clothing is always a good Christmas gift.  I received a beautiful dressy wool winter coat from my husband to wear to church and hopefully some other more dressy events.

Garage Lighting

It was Mike's idea to give Heath garage lighting for Christmas.  Heath does a lot of wood working in his garage but it was nearly impossible for him to do so at night.  Plus during the day he would have to leave the garage door up for light and then all the neighbors would see and hear his projects.  So while Heath and Suzanne were out of town at his sister's graduation, Mike installed lights.  I think it was a good gift.  Not only did Heath thank us but it inspired him to reorganize his garage and workspace.

Window Coverings

Heath and Suzanne entertain a lot and like to use their projector for movie screenings and video game playing.  The problem in their new house is it that the blinds in the basement are not blackout shades.  So Heath and Suzanne solved that problem by tacking a blanket over the window.  But if Suzanne actually wanted light in the basement she had to pull the blanket down and then she could not put it back by herself.  So I thought blackout blinds on the basement window might be something she would appreciate for Christmas.  They arrived after Christmas and Mike and I dropped them off at their house where Heath and Mike installed them.  Unfortunately that was at night so we were unable to thoroughly test out the blackout aspect.  However, since then Suzanne has had a chance to run a daytime experiment.  She sent us the resulting evidence via photo.  Looks like it works.

Coffee

Coffee presents are always popular around here as all in the immediate family drink coffee.  Laura Flannery visited us last year at Thanksgiving and introduced Mike to Starbucks Christmas blend that is made from Sumatra beans which are Mike's favorite.  Needless to say, the coffee was a hit so now Laura and I make sure that Mike gets some for Christmas.  The Spilsbury's helped us with that.  They send Mike and I Starbucks gift certificates so we were able to grab even more of this special coffee during the after Christmas sales. 

It certainly looks like the Peterson's and Zurn's are all set up for a great new year.