They Know Me Too Well

Things that I got for Christmas this year:

From Spouse: 

A new router for our home computer network, because I kept losing the signal on the old one, and he was constantly having to flip the switch (located in his office) to reboot it.  The new one kicks tail.  Haven't been kicked off the network once since it was installed.  Marital harmony restored.  Also, he named the new network "Surveillance Van," which is pretty awesome.  Totally stolen from Someecards, but awesome nonetheless.

One of those things that you plug into your dashboard, and it diagnoses what is wrong with your car.  I'm sure that there is a technical term for this concept - I just don't know it offhand.  What I do know is that I have remarked, more than once, that I wish I had the diagnostic dealie that they use when they inspect your car at the service station, and SPOUSE HEARD ME.  Also, Spouse recognizes that the best way to deal with my paranoias is to address them head-on.

A hand-held UV light that kills germs and mold.  See:  paranoias, above.

Spouse bought me other stuff - some of it traditional husband-to-wife stuff, like some really pretty aquamarine earrings.  However, it's the routers and engine diagnostic tools and sterilizing equipment that tell me that he REALLY loves me, and totally gets me.   (Sister-in-law D and brother-in-law A also get "paranoid" me.  WOOHOO, A GERMAN AUTO EMERGENCY LIFE HAMMER!  I seriously have always wanted one.)

From my mother: 

A new candy thermometer.  A refillable icing pen.   A cookie cutter shaped like an Erlenmeyer bulb flask.  (For Halloween and mad scientist parties.  It was on my cookie cutter wish list.  Yes, I have one of those.)   An apron.  A Cuisinart chef's pan in a size I didn't have.  A bottle of princess cake emulsion.  Jars of Vietnamese cinnamon and espresso powder. 

Because my mother also totally gets me.  Other people who get me "domestic" me:  my sister-in-law M (AKA "the awesome person who filled a Neiman-Marcus shoebox with cupcake liners and toppers FOR EVERY FLIPPIN' OCCASION, wrapped it and, God love her, put my name on it") and my brother-in-law Z (subscriptions to Bon Appetit, Saveur and some really cool Italian cooking magazine filled with things that I can't pronounce but totally plan to try).

And the hits just kept on coming.  A Keurig machine.  (Okay, that was TECHNICALLY for Spouse, but I'm rockin' the heck out of it.)  The world's softest robe, with matching hair band and spa shoes - none of it pink.  Books I have been wanting to read, and can utilize in tandem with my - ahem, OUR - Keurig machine, and my fluffy robe.  Books I had never heard of before, but now totally love.  A Someecard desk calendar (so that I can come up with other funny stuff like naming our WiFi "Surveillance Van"!).   Spoon Man (really, that's what he's called - he's a metal sculpture made out of flatware, holding a tumbler, in which we now store straws - so he's kinda morphed into Straw Man.)  A membership to the new science and history museum in Dallas.  Nordstrom and Neiman's gift cards to apply towards LeMystere bras, BB cream and other ridiculously expensive consumable necessities.  Cash to apply towards monogrammed chair slipcovers from Ballard Designs and pillow slips from Etsy.

 This year, more than any other year, I was struck by how well the people in my life know me.   And, more than any other tangible thing, that made me feel awfully good.