Sort of spoiled my wife's Christmas Surprise for me last night... I was commenting that via my change-saving scheme that I had enough cash to get myself a new kilt, particularly with the sale Stillwater has on their Black Watch and Nightstalker standards. She told that since it's so close the Christmas season, I should hold off because you never know who was going to get you what.

I responded that I had been hoping to get a kilt for my birthday (Nov. 1) and instead, my parents bought me two new pairs of pants. (My mother even said "Well, you can't wear kilts all the time." I don't think that they meant it as a jibe at my kilt-wearing, but they don't quite get it all). No kilts whatsoever, and I was feeling a little upset by that (especially in getting two pairs of pants that I will probably never wear). So I was going to get one anyway, despite the holidays.

So she basically told me, in a bit of a huff, that I should just go ahead and get a new kilt, then, and she'd get me something else. I immediately felt about 2 inches tall. So, after I told her that I'd much rather get a kilt from her that was special instead of just buying one, she's now promised to continue with her normal plans of getting me one.

And therein lies the mystery: I told her that I don't want to know anything about the kilt - what kind, what tartan, etc. It could be a UK, a traditional kilt, I have no idea.

Hence the "Mystery Jones." And the fact that I have to wait, now.