Here's What I'm Giving Ladd For Christmas (So Far!)

Around 2004, my mother-in-law Nan gifted everyone in the family---grandchildren included---a new pair of Muck boots. To this day, it was one of the best gifts I've ever received. Ladd wore his for years and years, then lost one when a Drummond dog swiped one off the porch and took it to parts unknown. When it comes to walking around in muddy cattle pens, or chopping ice on the edge of a pond and wanting to keep your feet dry, nothing is better than a pair of muck boots!

Ladd hasn't loved robes in the past. He's either in his jeans, or showered and in his shorts and t-shirt. But there's been a development. We now have a hot tub in our yard after never having any kind of pool or any body of water in our lives other than a pond. And Ladd and I are using it! I'm going to write a post about this soon, but the hilarity of Ladd and me running outside wrapped in towels to get in our hot tub in cold weather is not to be underestimated. Bottom line: My husband needs a robe. This one says it's absorbent and soft, and the charcoal color looks great on him. Maybe I'll get in the robe with him! (Sorry kids! 😂)

Just so we're clear: Fred (aka Freddles) is 100% Ladd's dog. They have bonded on a molecular level, and it's a beautiful thing to witness. Ladd has always loved our dog, and they've always loved him, but I don't think he's ever been a dog's "person" before. Ladd is Fred's person. I had the idea to have Rachael Rossman, an artist friend of mine from the old blogging days, to paint Fred's portrait. She lives in Portland, so she consulted a handful of representative Fred photos and painted this beautiful piece, which looks exactly like the ol' guy---enormous ears and all. Rachael is amazing!

This is a little more of a family gift, but I'll wrap it for Ladd and let him open it. 😊 We don't play Monopoly all the time, but when the kids are with us, we can occasionally get into some mammoth Monopoly sessions. I've seen these fancy/heirloom type sets and have always thought our family needed one, and I thought this one was particularly pretty and classic. I love that the money and accessories fit neatly into a built-in drawer, so when Ladd is the banker and everyone's yelling at him that he shorted them or charged the wrong interest, at least he'll be organized!

Good stocking caps are one of those things that seem to disappear on the ranch a lot. They fall out of pickups, they get left on the back of a feed truck, they get "borrowed" by college kids and never seen again! Ladd wears a stocking cap when he's chopping ice in freezing temperatures because a cowboy hat just doesn't do the trick, and I love this lambswool version in---again---charcoal!

Again, 'tis the season for chopping ice! Axes are something else that easily disappears from one season to the next. They fall off trucks, they get left on the pond, they get loaned and borrowed, and it's always good to have a spare! Most of Ladd's axes have wooden handles (that sounds like a country song!) so thought he might like this heavy duty model. We'll see how it works! Maybe I should put a GPS tracker on it?

Best shirt in the world! Not too heavy, tough enough for ranch work, but looks good enough to wear to town (if it isn't too covered in manure!) Ladd discovered this brand a few years ago and loves the fit and the weight (and Ladd is like the princess and the pea in terms of detecting anomalies in fabric he wears, haha!) He has a handful of other colors and patterns, but I love this gold/mustard shade. I hope this brand never stops making these shirts, because it took Ladd 50-plus years to find them.

Same shirt as above, but flannel. Flannel shirts are tough for Ladd, because most of them are too thick, bulky, and hot. This flannel is great and not too stiff, so he can wear them on a particularly frigid day when he has to ride his horse. By the way, did you know cowboys don't just throw on sweatshirts to work cattle? They gotta have on a button-down shirt on at the core, even if they throw a sweatshirt on over it!

I made up the term Panic Pack. It refers to the deep fear Ladd has that he would ever find himself without Carmex---either because they stopped manufacturing it or zombies took over everything or some other likely reason. Ladd can't face a future without Carmex (it has to be in the pot), so I try to keep his emergency supply bulked up as much as I can. I'm getting him five of these twelve-packs and he will unwrap them and smile bigger than any of the other gifts. Carmex is his reason for being.

Okay, I mentioned we have a hot tub in the yard? Ladd also now has a weight room in the house. It's been his dream his whole life, and even though we moved into our house earlier this year, his weight room was just completed last week! He actually does work out in there and sweat a lot (as opposed to some of us, who channel surf while using the rowing machine as a lounge chair), so I thought these towels would come in handy.

Ladd's favorite candy category is anything with chocolate, caramel, and pecan...which perfect describes a turtle! I tried these a year or two ago and loved them, and they are the perfect gift for the man who's hard to buy for. Ladd will eat 1/4 to 1/2 at a time so they'll probably last a decade...if he hides them from me.