Finals; Christmas Shopping; Question for Readers

Happy early, early Saturday, everyone! I’m taking final exams next week, so I’m busy putting together study sheets, reviewing, asking God to please help me so that I can be done with undergraduate work, that kind of thing. However, I’ll be finished next Thursday, so I might actually have a worthwhile blog entry next week.

In the meantime, I drew Kid Sis’ name from the hat for Christmas shopping/gift giving, so I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m going to get/do for her. Christmas is not primarily about gifts – we’re Christians, so we celebrate the birth of Jesus first and foremost. (Yes, I do know that Jesus probably wasn’t born on December twenty-fifth, but we take what we can get, right?) However, giving gifts is nice too because I get to figure out what the recipient will most like.

Kid Sis is easy to shop for because she’ll flat-out tell you what she wants when you ask. I’ve never bought or done something that she absolutely hated, so I guess that my ears work pretty well. However, she probably doesn’t have any idea of what I’m getting her this year…she didn’t ask for it, but I know that she’ll like it.

I know that she wants a particular Wii game, so I’ll see if I can get a good deal on that. Sixty bucks for one stupid video game is ridiculous if you ask me – a gently used copy, or one on mad sale because it’s the Christmas-shopping season, will do just fine.

However, she also needs a few important, emergency items for her car. I didn’t realize until yesterday evening that the spare “universal” donut in her trunk was not actually designed for her make. Oops…it turns out that the donut won’t fit on her car, making it utterly useless should she have a flat.

First, I’m tracking down a spare rim with a decent tire because I really don’t want her stranded with a busted tire, tempted to rely on strangers if family or her boyfriend can’t get to her very, very quickly. She’s capable of changing the tire herself – she’s demonstrated that fact more than once – but she has to have the right spare.

I’d also like to put a few other, important things in her car for her, such as an ABC fire extinguisher. Yes, I know that Kid Sis should already have one of those – preparedness and all – but, um, we’ve kind of overlooked the whole “fire extinguishers for the vehicles” bit for some reason.

So, yeah, she’s probably going to get a new toy for Christmas – but she’s also getting things that she can actually use. There’s no point in having a new video game at home if you don’t make it back because the wrong person stopped to help you out with your flat…or whatever.

I’d like to hear from the readers, though, because I know that many of you have great ideas. What sorts of emergency/survival items do you keep in the car? My essentials include things like spare fuses; electrical tape; reflective triangles; a fire extinguisher; tire-changing essentials; first-aid kits; and the like. What else do you store in the car?