AFTER EIGHT COCOA, and other stuff

Unpaid Product Endorsement:  Nestle's After Eight Hot Cocoa Mix.  For those of you who have never had an After Eight mint, its a small, thin wafer of creamy mint covered with a thin coat of dark chocolate.  Back in the old days these confections were so delicate that they would melt in your mouth.  Now days they're a little firmer, but delicious none the less.  The cocoa mix is a superb blend of rich, dark chocolate and cool mint, the perfect nightcap for a cold winter's night.  And a cheap, quick gift.... a container of After Eight Cocoa ($2.34) a holiday mug ($1.00), a snak pak of Oreos (44¢) and a candy cane (5¢), stick it all in a cellophane gift bag, tie it with some curling ribbon and there you have it, a classy little gift that cost less than $4.00!

Okay, so I guess you might be wondering... am I really that cheap?  Well,yes, yes I am!  I work in a retail store as a supervisor to about 75 workers, and I work with over 100 others.  I can't afford to be giving gifts to everyone, but for those that I work more closely with, those in my immediate shift, and those whom I've known pretty much since I started working at the store almost 6 years ago... I do give a little gift bag.  For all of my cashiers I give a little 'goody bag' with a pak of tissue, some pens, safety pins, paperclips, bandaids, lotion and candy... it runs me about $1.50 a piece which doesn't seem like much until you consider that there are 59 cashiers!  Its fun though, my kids help me make the bags, hopefully instilling upon them the importance of recognizing and appreciating those who work with or for you.... and the cashiers really seem to appreciate the little necessities.

Anyhow, I better get ready to go to work.  The family (minus me... whaaaaa!) are going to the mountains to cut down a Christmas tree.  Normally we do it as a family but Steve was pretty sick yesterday.  I don't know yet how he's feeling now since he's still asleep, but this is their last chance to get the tree so they have to go today.  How sad that we can't all be there, with Gabe gone and me having to work.  Oh well, we'll all be together on the 21st.  This picture was taken 2 years ago infront of the tree we took home.  See Zack, the second from the right.... he's got a snowball in his hands that he smashed on his baby sister's head seconds after this picture was taken.  Of course she didn't notice because she was already covered with snow!  I don't know how we managed to get this picture taken and then drag the tree to the truck with a full blown snowball fight raging, but we did!  Yep, thats the stuff memories are made of!