Merry Christmas, but not a Happy Festivus for me.

Merry Christmas to all. Just wanted to get on here for a minute to let you in on how my Festivus went. Well, I'll tell ya. Every year Bratch and I get our mom a nice flower arrangement or two because she is nuts about flowers. I always try to get the flowers in a vase or flower holder that she can continue to use when the flowers are long gone. We have done this for years now and things seem to always work out fine.

This year I went to the local flower shops looking for the perfect gift and I found it. It was a purple vase type thing and in the center of it was the nativity scene. The nativity scene was embossed if that is even a word and was white. I thought that since this year Christmas was on Sunday I would give this to mom on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning and she could use it to decorate the church if she wanted. Good plan if I do say so myself.

I picked up the flowers yesterday and brought them home satisfied that this was one of the best arrangements we had gotten for her. There were lavender roses in the arrangement to match the color of the vase. It was pretty good and I know nothing about flowers. Bratch and I are sitting in the living room enjoying our nightly Seinfeld, while in the dark enjoying the Christmas tree, when mom comes home. I see her walk into the dining room carrying something. I noticed two candles sticking up. I thought, "that's funny, my arrangement had two candles in it." I then thought to myself, "surely that is not the same arrangement." It couldn't be.

I voice my concerns to Bratch and he poo poos them. Mom must have overheard us and asked if that was the same arrangement we had gotten her. I played dumb but sprang from my chair and walked into the dining room. Bad news, bad news. It was the exact same thing. Well, not exactly the same thing, this arrangement was with carnations and not roses so it was a cheaper version, but the vase was the same and that was what I liked the most. Apparently mom's department heads got her this little token of their appreciation. And their affection has ruined Christmas.

Well, not really, I began to come up with schemes to somehow return my arrangement and get another one, but mom likes both so I guess we will keep it. One on the piano and one on the organ in church will look nice. It has now come to my attention that dad has put Bratch in charge of getting a Christmas present for mom from him, so we are going for another arrangement. I just hope that mom doesn't receive the same arrangement before she can get his on Christmas day.