OK – christmas shopping officially began today with the purchase of truly, limited edition room freshener “Aires Navidades”, the can decorated with christmas tree, bows, glitter, twinkling lights, cute snowbaby and gift wrapped objects – all in the tradiitonal green red gold white northern hemisphere christmas colour scheme. The small print promises to aromatize our surroundings with touches of apple and cinnamon. Product of Argentina, with heavy infuence from north america, I’m thinking.

Fabuloso is a product of a north american company producing household cleaning stuff here, and year round comes in several lovely colours, pink, blue, lavender. This lovely fresh green we swooped on for christmas when we noticed it on the shelves today. The label says this is Fabulosa Navidad, edicion limitada. I have always meant to ask my friend “Toothpaste maker in Montevideo” what is the rationale behind all these glorious colours – will we buy more? I think I just answered my own question!
PS – I could hardly believe it when DH walked in yesterday with another of each, saying “limited edition – they’ll all be gone soon” – the fabuloso is pretty nicely freshly scented as usual, but the room freshener is a sickly mixture of faux pine overlaid with rather cloying sickly scents (pie spices, cinnamon plus very rose-based pot pourri,) which I find so off- putting in so many north american shops and malls, particularly card and gift shops, at this time of the year. At the rate I plan to have it used in our house, it will take several year’s worth of festive seasonal spraying to use up the two cans…

PPS – April 5th update – At the time I posted the above PS, and the rate at which we use bathrooom deodoriser, were all set to be burdened with spicy cloying seasonal airs in the ‘social bathroom’ here for several years to come. Now to my surprise, (and I meant to put this in a month or so ago -) the can we left there while on holiday for a month in february, with the house in care of a non-english speaking woman who therefore won’t read this about herself – is totally empty !!! How one person can use a whole can of that stuff in one month I … well it blew me away. Figuratively speaking no pun intended. …but I was glad to see one can gone, truly all used up. Just today I read of the annual Darwin Awards 2006 where one of the top ten this year included the death by asphyxiation of a very large man who apparently produced prodigious amounts of intestinal gas, and in his small airtight bedroom was gassed ( in his own gases) as he slept. Any of you planning on visiting our social bathroom be assured that although the room is small, when the light is on so is the extractor fan…..