
Wax's eldest niece turned 18 and today was her birthday party. Wax is her godmother but I am not, because she was baptized before I moved to the country, but also because you have to be a member of the Finnish Lutheran church to be a godparent (Wax isn't anymore, but she is also a godmother to her younger brother's eldest - she let the membership lapse after that, when the church leadership failed to take a stance against homophobia and a bunch of people withdrew their membership in protest).
Typically I have taken over choosing presents for niblings because it's less painful than trying to coach Wax through it. We've been giving the teenagers money recently (and so have most of their extended family) because that's what they want. But 18 is the milestone birthday to adulthood kind of, but it isn't the moving away from home one, that's 19, so we can't just give her dishes or silverware or whatever, yet I was thinking... she's probably graduated to the age when we should pick presents out for her again?
So I asked Wax what she wanted to do, reminding her that if she preferred she could still decide to just give her money, and Wax forgot about it. I mean, we both did, kind of. But I'm leaning towards just giving books by default, even though the last time we gave her a book she said she didn't have much time for reading anymore. Plus I think she was like 13 then, so she's probably outgrown that.
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I went to get my photo taken last week so now I CAN order a passport and a new ID card, but annoyingly they both cost money. Normally that might not be all that annoying, only we were planning to take Snookums to the vet (like, technically last month/this month, but definitely before the end of June) and I think we've decided we can't actually do without the car because we lack the qualities that let other people borrow vehicles, cadge rides, hire people, and order taxis (that is, the willpower to talk to people and/or use the phone. We just want to huddle at home all the time! You can't take a taxi without talking to someone and that's just an unfortunate fact - they're bound to perceive you even if you could get away with a mumble and some eloquent gestures).