I Have No Idea What Chapter This Is, But Here I Go Anyway - The Multi-topic Edition

I was reading the Toronto Star online this morning, and a couple different articles caught my attention.

Article #1: 7 Gifts to Ruin Christmas.

My first response was, short of swine flu, or some other virus or disease, or other horrible *insert whatever here* a gift should not ruin Christmas.

As a mother, I feel like Christmas is about the children, so to read an article on what not to get your guy for Christmas, I was somewhat unimpressed. Then the obvious occurred to me, I wasn't always a mother. I haven't even been a mother for very long, a certainly not everyone else is a parent either, and those non-parents celebrate Christmas too.

As someones significant other, I completely agree that there are gifts that just kind of put you off for the holidays, especially when it slaps you in the face that this person you've vowed to spend the rest of your life with, doesn't know you at all. However, it doesn't help if the question "what do you want for Christmas?" arises, and you respond with;

a) I don't know.
b) Nothing.
c) Something completely out of the question/price range.

So in the spirit of Christmas, here is my "What Not To Get Your Spouse" list.

Let's pretend I'm your s/o.

-Anything practical. When you're in love with someone, a gift should be personal, not practical, I don't want socks, and if you're going to get me underwear, there had better be an ulterior motive behind it.

-Anything electronic. This brings me back to the personal thing. Anyone can pick out an MP3 player. If you really want to impress me, and I really want an MP3 player (which I don't) fill it with all of my favorites, plus a few songs I've never heard of that you know I will love. Emphasis on the know. I don't want a TV, even if it is 50 inches with high-def, and I really like movies, this isn't a Christmas thing, this is a lets do it together thing. So lets just say, no electronics, unless I specifically said I want one (or it vibrates).

-Perfume. Unless I have a favorite brand, don't assume I'll like a scent.

-Clothes that don't fit. If you don't know my size, too big or too small will upset me. You're gift will either imply that I'm fat, or prove that I'm fat. You don't want to go there.

-Anything edible. Yes I love chocolate, specifically Ferrero Rocher, and yes I will eat it, and yes I will enjoy it, and I'll love you for it. But my New Years Resolution probably has something to with dieting and/or eating healthy/exercising etc... and the temptation is not helping.

-Anything (insert metal/gem here, in my particular case, gold). Know your spouses preference before walking out of a jewelery store. No woman wants to tell you she doesn't like that $400 necklace *just* because of the colour, because she really wants to like it, and she appreciates the effort, but she also doesn't want to feel like you replaced thought with cash value and took the easy way out. But she does want that one piece of jewelery she just doesn't want to take off, not just because you gave it to her (which will always be good enough), but because she truly loves it.

I guess the moral of the story is, be 100% sure of yourself. Don't get something you think she will like because it caught your eye, know your woman.


Article #2: TTC Traumatic with 2 kids, stroller and lots of stairs.

My response to the title was relief. "Yay, somebody gets it".

The article refers to the wondrous torture of trying to navigate the TTC with kid and a stroller, obviously, but also TTC policy not to help passengers lift things (strollers included) onto the bus, passengers not offering seats, and people generally being more concerned with themselves than to aiding other people who are struggling with the task of taking public transit.

My need to write about this revolves more around the comments I've read on the article.

Argument 1) Don't take your kids on the TTC during rush hour.

Umm... when else are people supposed to drop their kids off/pick the up from daycare or their other means of childcare. I don't know about most other people but I would drop my kids off on my way to work, and pick them up on my way home. Generally, this would be rush hour.

Argument 2) Take an umbrella stroller instead of a stroller that takes up the same amount of room as 4 paying passengers.

Agreed. Except infants cannot ride in umbrella strollers, and this usually results in the child getting whacked in the face with someones backpack/purse/laptop/shopping bag.

Argument 3) Always have a car available if you have kids, even if this means someone has to take the TTC to work.

Ha ha ha ha... not all of us can drive, for many reasons. Some people are not medically able to drive, some people are not good drivers, and the vast majority of us non-drivers simply can not afford a car and pay Toronto prices on car insurance.

Argument 4) The write has enough money, she could have taken a cab.

...
Lets say for the sake of argument that you know this for a fact, and that it's not an incredibly stupid thing to say. Why should she have to shell out the $40-something it would cost round trip downtown just because she can, when the rest of us can do it for $6? That's just a stupid thing to expect.

Now that that is out of the way, try finding a cab driver that will take the time to let you install 2 child car seats, properly, and not charge you for the time it takes to do it. Putting a child into a cab without a seat is a risk. Think about it, when was the last time you took a taxi, and they followed all the rules of the road?

These, I found, we're the most common comments.

I agree that having your perfectly-abled 6 year old in a travel-system stroller because it allows you to bring the child's entire bedroom with you to be a little absurd, especially on the bus. But I felt the need to point out the fact that not all parents who are on the bus with a stroller are doing it to inconvenience everybody else, hell, everybody else isn't even feeling inconvenienced. But some of us, like you, are just doing what they need to get by in life. Just as not all passengers on the bus are soured enough by the facts of life to lash out at parents of other people. Unhappy with your life? Lash out at your own parents, they are, in fact the ones who gave you life anyway.