When selecting my cousin Will’s birthday gift, I had a vague notion of what to get him. He’s a big fan of music: in his bedroom, he’s got a record player and stacks of records and CDs. I should’ve paid more attention to the selections when I was up in November for Thanksgiving, but all I could remember when I was pacing the music section of Border’s in Lutherville (a far more convenient location than their previous in Towson) was a trend towards 60s stuff. Alas! No Dylan biography was in stock, neither was “Will You Remember Me When I’m Gone?”, about the Carter family.

Finally, I figured on what I considered a relatively safe bet: a bio of Jimi Hendricks. At least, that’s who I had in mind, but apparently I’d been looking at a book on Bob Marley, too, because that’s the one I found in the bag when I bothered to unpack it the next morning. Whoops. I figured Marley wouldn’t appeal to Will, and here I entirely chalk it up to my general ignorance of music, because reggae didn’t quite seem to mix with the rock/folk I was associating Will’s music taste with. As for taking the Marley book over the Hendricks, I chalked it up to “I’m a stupid white boy who can’t distinguish one black guy with a guitar from the other.”

Unable to yet track down my receipt, I’ve still got the Marley book at home. I went back out to Borders, picked up the Hendricks book, wrapped it while slightly drunk last night, then discovered to my amazement that the Hendricks book was the hit of the gift giving this evening (all the while still feeling stupid enough that I intended to buy a Hendricks book and wound up with a Marley). Even Uncle Bill, who I thought would’ve been digging in to the two-part Churchill bio, was paying more attention to the Hendricks bio, and my dad related a story about how he learned Jimi H. died: a student walked into the room sad, wrote “JIMI HENDRICKS IS DEAD” on the blackboard, then sat down. “Oh, you could tell he was sad Hendricks was dead … but also really proud he was the one to give us all the news.”

But here’s the kicker: when we arrived in Scranton today, the cousins had arrived about forty minutes before us. And what was Will wearing? A black t-shirt that urged “LISTEN TO BOB MARLEY.”

Well. At least I’ve got his Christmas gift for NEXT year.

Sadly, I was slightly too inebriated to accept an invitation to Padonia Station for a couple of drinks. Why was I inebriated? Well, primarily because my evening’s plans were to wrap Christmas gifts (and that’s a task that can only be made less painful by drinking). I half succeeded, by which I both mean my presents could be described as “half wrapped”, and that I’ve only wrapped the gifts I’ll be exchanging this weekend, in Scranton, during the “extended family Christmas” (the folks, the sister and I will exchange gifts Christmas Day*).

Since the extended family doesn’t read this blog (as far as I know), here’s the loot I’m bringin’:

Grandma: A selection of holiday coffees from Baltimore Coffee & Tee in Timonium.
Aunt Peggy: Beauty & The Beast, The Complete Second Season
Uncle Bill: The Last Lion Vol I & II (Winston Churchill biography) by William Manchester
Uncle Bill & Aunt Anne: Half a case of Natty Boh
Aunt Anne: A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Cousin Maggie: Wise Children by Angela Carter
Cousin Will: Roomful of Mirrors (Jimi Hendricks bio) by Charles Cross

I enjoy giving books. My sister isn’t getting a book — if she hasn’t figured out what she’s getting this year, she hasn’t been paying attention to the last two Christmases.

They’re wrapped (eh, sorta) and waiting in a Kleins Market grocery bag to be transported to the back of my parents’ Camry when they arrive tomorrow morning to pick me up. Although I’d love to break my Matrix in on a road trip, I won’t mind allowing my parents’ to pay for the gas (I’m cheap). I still need to pack my overnight bag. This trip to Scranton will be different, as well: we’re staying in a hotel, along with the cousins. Bill’s dad (himself a Bill) recently sold the home he’d owned since coming home from the Pacific in 1945, and in the past, Dad & I had stayed there while Bill & Will while the women stayed at Peg’s. Still not sure quite what the bunking arrangements are going to be, but I hope the hotel has WiFi.

*Assuming we like each other enough after nine hours in a car over the weekend.