Catholic gifts for men.
Booze.
Really. Booze is always good - get the girls candy, but get the guys booze.
Get one better than this.
An expensive scotch...
A fine vodka - no flavored stuff.
Traditional is good.
Save the wine and flavored stuff for the girls.
It's Catholic!
Beer. Really good, expensive beer and ale - stuff he wouldn't buy on his own.
He can quit later.
If he smokes - get him some tabacco he likes.
If you must give candy - make sure it is liquor filled.
Better than Centering Prayer.
Then throw in a nice pair of leather gloves or something.
Always try to buy luxurious stuff for Christmas - nothing practical.
Who needs practical?
Don't give gift cards or money - unless you are just not that close. It's very unoriginal. Cold.
Don't get cheap beer either.
I couldn't let a mention of flavored vodka pass without sharing my favorite new drink:
ReplyDeleteSmirnoff Caramel vodka
Apple cider
Mix to desired taste and strength.
It's amaaaaaaaaazing. It's like eating a caramel apple, and there's no alcohol taste.
Good Croatian Sljivovitz! This plum brandy is smooth and sweet... and 80 proof. http://www.bevmo.com/shop/productdetail.aspx?productid=2087
ReplyDeleteDid I mention that it is really good after coming in out of the cold?
ReplyDeletePity tho, if the brother, uncle, dad, etc., lives in certain parts of Alaska where such spirits are prohibited.
When I was little, in the late 60's early 70's, in the coal regions of PA, my parents ( who were not a fun couple)dragged me along to a different party almost every night from Christmas Eve until New Years. Looking back I'm amazed how much people drank. I remember begging for sips from everyone's drinks ( and getting them). The guys drank beer and the women drank whiskey sours and grasshoppers. I thought it was a blast but I couldn't drink like that today.
ReplyDeleteHey Donald - I am here in northeastern PA, coal region here and all around, and people Still drink like that here.
ReplyDeletemy parents were both alcoholics: when my mother moved here, from Albany ny, where she joined AA, she was astonished at the vastly higher numbers of alcholics here, and the young age of initial drinking. Also, she and others in AA had a theory about this...that the coal region drew immigrants here, high-risk takers: people who risked so much to come here: Irish, Scotts, Polish, you name it: a theory that I can not articulate well, plus it would be sure to offend someone somewhere.
& as a woman: I'd be delighted to get a fine bottle of Irish Whiskey ! once again, though, the PTSD thing of all alcoholic families means I will hunker down in my little place and pray & cry and wait for it to be over. what a legacy. what saves me is midnight mass, for real, at midnight, quiet and serene. the wonderful drive to & fro.
Do you know what straight bourbon or brandy or rum is called in DC this time of year?
ReplyDeleteVegan Eggnog.