Merry Christmas To Us

Remember when you were little and you couldn't wait to call your friends and tell them what you got for Christmas? I guess this post is the blogsophere equivalent of that. Here for anyone who's interested are the items my beloved and I got each other for Christmas.

I must say Mr. Round Unvarnish'd Tale outdid himself this year with the necklace pictured below. Isn't it lovely? It comes from the jewelry department at Macy's and features a 14-karat/sterling silver pendant on a sterling silver chain. Macy's calls the piece "The Tree of Life." That also happens to be the title of one of my favorite contemporary hymns in the Lutheran Service Book (really one of my favorite hymns, period)! You can read the text of this stunningly beautiful hymn at the blog of its author, Pastor Stephen Starke.

By contrast, my gift to my husband was a bit more practical. To understand the impetus for it you must first take a look at our family room. (Pay no attention to the 5-year-old playing a video game--there was no budging him at the time.)




The sofa and loveseat you see were given to us by a couple at our church several years ago when they decided to turn their living room into an office for the husband. They are empty-nesters and neither the living room nor the furniture were getting much use. We were only too happy to take these pieces off their hands! They are so much better than what was in this room before. However, when all five of us sit down to watch a program, it does get a little crowded, uncomfortably so for my husband, who is quite tall and also has neck issues with a protruding disk. I have wanted for a long time to get him a better chair for this room. The chair of his dreams is a Barcalounger:

But the price (here's one on clearance for $930) means that in his dreams is where this chair is going to stay for a long, long time. La-Z-Boy is not much better. So I went looking for something a bit more economical and settled on a Poang chair and footstool from Ikea:




Plush and luxurious it's not. But I'm hoping that when he stretches out, puts up his feet and throws a nice, warm quilt across his legs, the man of this house will be a tad more comfortable than he would be crowded among the rest of us on the other furniture (though sometimes that crowding does have its benefits ;-)).

Here's the final product (I put everything together myself!) in our family room:

All ready for the new season of Lost, not to mention those Get Smart DVD's (thank you, Tom & Elaine!).

The grand total for chair, footstool and cushions was a mere $150. The nice thing about the modular nature of the furniture is that if we get tired of this look (or something gets spilled on it) new cushions can be purchased for about $50 (more if we decide to upgrade to leather). The chair is one that Ikea seems to be very proud of for its durability, as they display one in a glass case undergoing around-the-clock machine-generated use, replicating the effect of a several-hundred pound man repeatedly sitting, getting up, and sitting again. So if the chair lasts long enough for that elusive Barcalounger to finally make it to our house, I'm sure I can find another use for the Poang. There's the den. Or the bedroom. Or the new apartment of a young adult striking out on his own . . . .

Cancel that last thought.