When my mom was alive, I always had plenty of shopping to do in December, when she had a birthday not long before Christmas. Some December shopping is miserable, but I always enjoyed shopping for her. My mom and I didn't have exactly the same taste, but I knew her taste well and could always pick out things she would like, as she could for me.
Sadly, I didn't get a lot of time to shop the Kos Katalogue for her gifts. She got a beautiful dragonfly pin from Wings for her 80th and last birthday, but the Katalogue was just getting started the last Christmas she was here. I feel kind of cheated because there are so many things in it she'd have liked, and now there is no one that I like so much to give presents to. In my summer Kos Katalogue diary, I showed you things I'd already bought, from KosKat merchants I've already done business with. But there are so many other things that would be just perfect for my mom, if only she could still receive them! You're invited to join me below the orange surprise package, and we'll poke around and window-shop for presents I would give her if I could.
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One of these copper and brass book pins from David M Bowman was the very next thing I had my eye on for my mom. She was a teacher and librarian, and you could hardly leave her house without a sackful of books that she was sure you'd like. She was always right, too. |
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Some people can just wear scarves. I love them because I love beautiful textiles, and I buy them and almost never wear them. Mom wore scarves all the time. She'd have been thrilled to get this colorful silk oblong from huephoria. |
I know that moms get more than their share of fancy soaps, but this goat's milk soap from Sassy Sisters Soap is not like that drugstore stuff we bought her as little kids! I think she'd have liked the Citrus, or maybe the Lavender Rosemary. What the heck, one of each! They are not expensive! |
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The good thing about a mid-December birthday (the only good thing, I am told) is that people can give you Christmas-related stuff that is timely but not yet over for the season. These beautiful handmade Christmas cards from Newhard Design would have been an appropriate birthday gift. Mom could have used them immediately, that same year. I've seen these cards in person, because brooklynliberal, who makes them, brought some to a meetup, and they are of extremely nice quality, much better than mass-produced cards you would pay about the same price for. |
Another shop I was just spoiling to buy mom a gift from is Melinda Downey Jewelry, where Lorinda Pike sells her handmade work that everyone raves about. Here's a necklace that would have delighted my mom. We never could agree about pink -- it's not at all my color, but she was quite fond of it. Rhodochrosite is the pink stone here, one of her favorites. |
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Mom had a nice wooden rocking chair, that she sat in less and less as her arthritis got worse and it became uncomfortable for her. I am sure that a cheerful Bootie Pad from TheCatsPajamas13 would have given her a little more comfort in her chair. Horace Boothroyd III makes them in many different fabrics to suit every home. |
Besides the little thing about pink, our other thing was, I am always too hot and my mom was always freezing. It would be July and she'd have a sweater on. Given her love of scarves, this spectacular cashmere and silk piece from Treadlers would have been perfect for her and kept her nice and warm. I love the colors in it, and she would have too. |
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My mom was an extremely nice person, but she didn't like mean people and so professional Republicans really pissed her off. I think I have told the story of arriving at their house one summer to find my dad watching the Spanish-language news on TV. I asked if he was working on his Spanish, and he said that, because the Republican National Convention was going on, he couldn't play the news in English because my mom would come yell at the television. She thought (correctly) that Sarah Palin was both mean and ignorant, and thus extra-awful, so this magnet from Dem Swag would have gone right up on her refrigerator, probably to hold up a picture of Bo. |
Finally, I think I'd have to pick out a brooch of ancient design from the collection of North Star Armoury. My mom was an archaeology enthusiast; that was really the field that interested her, but in her time and culture, teaching grade school was the only college option available to her. I'm not sure she herself would be able to pick just one of these carefully accurate historical reproductions, but I am favoring this fabulous Viking brooch from the 7th-8th century, adorned with six faces, three fierce and three less so. |
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Thanks for joining me on my shopping trip! I hope perhaps you've seen something you like for a loved one who is still around to receive gifts. If not, well, it's a big
Kos Katalogue, and I've barely scratched the surface of it, so please check it out on your own. Remember that we can live our values by supporting small businesses instead of giant multinational corporations, and end up with much better and more beautiful stuff (and more carefully-performed services) to boot. The fact that we also support liberal businesses in the process is a huge bonus!
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Kos Katalogue Blogathon: November 12-November 14, 2013
Happy Holidays! Please consider buying your holiday or celebration gifts for friends and family from the Kos Katalogue.
Kos Katalogue is an online catalog of businesses owned by people who cherish and promote liberal values. Handmade or original gifts include pet supplies; fine art; quilts; jewelry; children's department; arts and crafts; stationery; books; clothing; craft supplies; electronics; food and drink; household sundries; yarn, knitting, crochet, and weaving; freelance services; software and webdesign; sporting goods; and music.
Our Daily Kos community organizers are Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, Sara R, and JekyllnHyde. Below are four examples of these handmade or original gifts. Thanks for your support.
Community Quilt Project David M Bowman Studio
Wings: Hands on Silver Laughing Coyote Woodworks
Please remember to republish these diaries to your Daily Kos Groups. You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Kos Katalogue Group. Then, click ♥ Follow and that will make all postings show up in My Stream of your Daily Kos pages.
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1:13 PM PT: New diary by Eclectablog is up!