Being snowed in on a Saturday like this has me coming up with all kinds of brilliant ideas. Allow me to share one..

When my lady and I moved in this apartment, one of our neighbors was nice enough to give us a nice bottle of white wine. It wasn't that expensive, but it was neatly packaged, and the thought alone made us happy. We gave our neighbor a thank you card, and then we later had a pleasant conversation. When a new neighbor on our floor moved in, we decided to continue the tradition by buying this person a fine bottle of wine. We didn't get a thank you card in return, but we did get an invitation to come drink wine with her whenever we wanted (we've yet to cash in on that).

So my idea this Christmas, is to give each of our neighbors a $5 gift card from Starbucks. I know its not a lot, but considering they probably aren't expecting jack shit from us, I think it will go over well. They will be surprised initially, and then they will be racking their brain trying to figure out what they can get us in return. And then the guilt they will feel about not initially thinking of this idea, will cause them to go a bit overboard with their return gift (i.e. go over $5), which is a win-win for me. Spend $5(or better yet just re-gift a Starbucks card that I get between now and Christmas) and get upgraded on the comeback. That's what Christmas is about! This had to work right?

By the way, for the first time since I was 17, I have a Christmas tree in my place of residence. When the woman I lived with initially insisted that we get one, I resisted, but now that its here, I must admit it looks damn good. I'm actually in the Christmas spirit.

Corinne Bailey Rae "I'd Do It All Again"

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