I remember about two years ago, I saw the nicest gift at Target for about $10. I don't know if any of you remember Perler Beads, but it was a kind of craft that was popular between my preK and 2nd grade years. Basically you would put these little colored circular plastic things on these little spokes on a grid, which was often a certain shape, like a heart or a horse or something, and then we could put parchment paper over the completed pattern and iron over it. The heat from the iron would melt the little Perler Beads together and fuse them into the solid colored pattern that you'd envisioned on your white grid. I found the example below from an article in the Washington Post.

As I was shopping that day, I knew what my sister had asked for in her letter to Santa, and it, unfortunately, was not something I could afford. However, when I saw this Perler Bead set, I knew it was what Santa intended for Anna. After all, she was creative, she was artistic, and she was fascinated with the things that I had liked when I was her age.


On Christmas Eve, after wrapping the huge Perler Bead giftset and hiding it in my closet, I tucked Anna in, and waited for her to fall asleep before I pulled out a sheet of paper and began to write to her as Santa. I made the tails of my y's longer and more rigid, my n's, u's, and r's more angular, and my a's like so, with the little hook on top. In the letter, I explained that as Santa, I understood that Anna wanted a new bike. I had received, however, a request from Anna's sister Cindy that Anna be given a chance to experience one of Cindy's childhood hobbies, the Perler Bead crafts during her own Friday night church activities. I continued by saying that I knew Anna was such a talented artist, and that I hoped to see her take the Perler Beads and really go above and beyond in her creativity.


In ending the letter, I gave Anna an extremely encouraging pep talk for the coming year. I reminded her that not only was she Cindy's baby sister, she was also Daniel's older sister, and as such she meant a lot as a role model. I said that while I understood it would be hard, I was fully confident that Anna could be a wonderful older sister to Daniel, despite being only two and a half years older than him.


After offering the usual holiday greetings from Mrs. Claus, I signed the letter, "Santa Claus," folded it gently, and went downstairs to place it next to the now empty cookie plate and milk mug.


When Anna woke up the next morning, she was thrilled. I'm not sure if it was more because of the letter, or because of the nifty Perler Beads and the opportunity to work on my childhood hobby with me. I did, however, relish the look of pure joy on her face, and the hope and enthusiasm with which she seemed to radiate.


A few months later, on a visit home from boarding school, I saw Anna's Santa letter on her nightstand. My mother told me that the letter had meant a lot to my little sister, and it made me smile to hear that.


Last Christmas, Anna had already outgrown the idea of Santa Clause, and had already cleverly noticed too many similarities between Santa's handwriting and mine, despite my conscientious attempts to disguise my handwriting. I enlisted her aid, however, to help me bring a similar Christmas spirit to Daniel. With our little brother, we baked Christmas cookies, set them out excitedly for Santa, and came back down and ate them later after Daniel went to bed. In the morning, we watched as Daniel excitedly opened his presents, and then we all baked a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. For us, that made a joyous Christmas.


By this Christmas, Daniel too has outgrown the idea of Santa, or has he? When I came back down to nibble at the cookie, drink the skim milk, and put treats in the stockings, I noticed the sheet of notebook paper by the empty plate. In Daniel's first-grade scrawl was his Christmas wish-list for Santa.

• roller skates
• Shrek the Third
• football helmet
• Toy Story I and II
• Shrek I
• you can figure out the rest (<- his attempt to allow Santa to make up for what bases he may have missed)

You can buy Pond's for about $8 at the local pharmacy. People online say it's really good, especially when the winter wind nips at you and makes your face feel tight.

My mom hasn't used it for a while though. She's into Olay, Lancome, Shiseido, etc. now. I guess our standard of living has changed.

Last Friday, Douglas, the cosmetics place by the Bookstore, had a 20% off sale. I went with my Penn bestie to check it out after our last client meeting. Philly water has been making me break out a lot more than I ever did in North Carolina. In high school, all I used for my face was, occasionally, St. Ive' s Apricot Scrub, but I usually just splashed warm water on my face a few times before closing my pores with cold water, and afterwards applying Olay SPF15 as moisturizer on especially cold days. Unfortunately, my Olay has not been able to stand against the Philly cold. I'm obviously not in North Carolina anymore.

On Friday, lured in by the 20% sign, I decided to purchase Peter Thomas Roth Chamomile Cleanser, which was originally $32, to help fight break-outs from the icky water. I also bought my mommy her Christmas present, the Shiseido Benefiance Revitalizing Emulsion. In total, I spent $70 on two items at Douglas. $70 is a lot of money.

The next day, as I was walking out of Hill to go to the gym, my face felt ridiculously dry, so I came to the conclusion that I needed a better moisturizer. Maybe a brand-name. I made the mistake of walking into Douglas again.

When I walked out, I was thoroughly convinced that I needed a new cleansing regimen. Cleanser, toner, and moisturizer, with special exfoliation two or three times a week. And what better way to do so than to stick with the brand-name line? I went home and took all my Wharton Behavioral Lab earnings out of the lucky red envelope I keep them in. Then I went back to Douglas and spent it all, and then some, on $32 aloe tonic, $52 moisturizer, $15 Mario Badescu Strawberry Scrub, and two bath fizzies for 50 cents each to bring my order up to $100.00 and 8% tax. $108.00 is a lot to be spending on skincare.

I went home that night and moped. I went online and looked for cheaper alternatives. And it was then that I stumbled upon Pond's Dry Skin Cream once again.

It was like remeeting a childhood friend.

I was so excited, that I got up earlier and rushed to CVS the next morning before church to buy generic alcohol-free toner and the Pond's Dry Skin Cream. Ecstatic, I applied a thin layer before church. In the afternoon, after lunch in Hill with my GCC freshmen brothers and sisters, I went with my buddy Patrick in the pouring rain to return $91.80 of skincare products back to Douglas. I kept the Mario Badescu exfoliating scrub. I plan to use it for a very long time.

I've been using CVS toner and Pond's Dry Skin Cream now for a few days, and it has been absolutely phenomenal. So great, in fact, that I've considered returning my mom's Shiseido emulsion and getting her Pond's for Christmas. There's nothing quite like a tried-and-true product.

I think it's a been a lesson well-learned. Brand names aren't really what counts. And when it comes down to it, I'm really just not a designer brand girl.

I wonder how my mom will feel when I bring Pond's skin cream back to her over Christmas break.