<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That’s it for this year.\u00a0 I’m looking forward to 2021, when a finger-pulling Santa is the highlight of my list.<\/p>\n And stay tuned for December 21 where I will once again share our dad’s recipe for his Christmas<\/strong> Ice Cream Fizz<\/strong>.\u00a0 This year we may have fewer people gathered around but if ever there was a year where we need to double the recipe, this is it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Each year at this time we try to perform our civic duty by providing suggestions for silly and useless gifts for the upcoming holiday season.\u00a0 Last year I included such things as a harness for your … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Useless-Christmas-4-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Coffee Mug Map of My House:<\/strong> When I was a kid the phrase “shelter in place” meant we ducked under our school desk for a 5 minute drill.\u00a0 This year, while we weren’t confined to a 2×2 space on a grimy linoleum floor<\/strong>, we did have to spend a whole lot more time inside our homes.\u00a0 Venturing from the kitchen to the patio was the 2020 equivalent to a European Grand Tour.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Useless-Christmas-3-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Toilet Paper Ornament:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Never have so many struggled to obtain such a pedestrian item.\u00a0 Toilet paper became the Holy Grail of paper products<\/strong>.\u00a0 People were trading semi-precious stones for a roll of Charmin like they were at a Middle Eastern bazaar.\u00a0 One would think that we had become a nation full of diarrhea-prone idiots.<\/strong> There were jokes going around that in 2050, when people are cleaning out their parent’s homes, they will find a stash of toilet paper that will last another 100 years.\u00a0 The summer brought some sanity to the situation with plenty of stock on the shelves but, alas, the recent uptick in Covid has caused people to lose their minds again.\u00a0 Look for large quantities of tp for sale on Ebay when this thing ends.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Useless-Christmas-5-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Costco:\u00a0 <\/strong>I don’t really want Costco to become useless in 2021.\u00a0 I love Costco.\u00a0 How could you not love a store that produces such a perfect pumpkin pie?<\/strong> But in 2020 Costco has become a madhouse.\u00a0 At our local warehouse lines stretched around the store 30 minutes before it opened.\u00a0 When the metal grate finally lifted there was a mad rush to the back of the store for….you guessed it…toilet paper!\u00a0 And paper towels, meat, Lysol wipes and liquor.\u00a0 Lots of liquor.\u00a0 Last week when I was there I discovered that Extra Strength Tylenol<\/strong> is now on the restricted list, as it is what’s recommended to thwart the effects of the COVID vaccine.\u00a0 So, I’ve made my last trip to Costco for the year – I’m just not up for being an unwilling participant in the Supermarket Sweepstakes<\/strong> frenzy.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Useless-Christmas-2-300x243.jpg\")
<\/a>Hand Sanitizer:<\/strong>\u00a0 My hands are chapped, my nails are split and I rub my hands with sanitizer like an obsessive-compulsive person in “the home”.\u00a0 I never thought that I would switch up my perfume for “Essence of Purell”<\/strong>.\u00a0 Early on there was a huge shortage of sanitizer but then some geniuses figured out how to use regular alcohol to manufacture it and suddenly our local brewery became the best place to score some.\u00a0 Now it is ubiquitous, featured on the end caps of every store from Target to the gas station<\/strong>.\u00a0 I think the person who can come up with toilet paper and paper towels with hand sanitizer built in could make a fortune.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Useless-Christmas-6-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Lounge Wear:\u00a0<\/strong> Personally, I love a good pair of sweatpants.\u00a0 I have some in every color, ranging from formal black to “greet the Amazon delivery person” gray.\u00a0 Prior to the pandemic I really deplored people wearing their pajamas to the grocery store<\/strong>.\u00a0 Now it’s so common it’s startling when you see someone with pants that actually zip.\u00a0 There have been numerous studies over the years around the concept of “you are what you wear” and they all agree that dressing well positively impacts self-esteem<\/strong> and how you interact with the world.\u00a0 Based on what I’ve observed in the past few months we have desperately low self-esteem, bordering on self-flagellation.\u00a0 Hopefully when we regain some sort of normalcy we will also see the return of buttons and a sharp crease.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Useless-Christmas-gifts-300x240.jpg\")
<\/a>Working from Home:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>I used to love working from home on occasion.\u00a0 There’s nothing like the satisfaction of doing a load of laundry in between conference calls to make you feel like Super Multi-Tasker.\u00a0 But I can probably speak for every working parent that we have reached the limit<\/strong> of how much time we want to work from our living rooms.\u00a0 Turns out that most people like the interaction with people other than their immediate family and pets.\u00a0 Plus, working while trying to futilely understand your third grader’s math problems<\/strong> is humiliating at best.\u00a0 The goal for 2021 is to get everyone back where they belong – kids in school and adults at work.\u00a0 For those women whose job was already full with child-rearing and running a household, I say they have earned a very well deserved rest, complete all the chocolate and wine they can consume.<\/p>\n