The season of giving.

[half_double]

At this time of year, I'm reading lots of entries where people enumerate all the swag they've raked in this holiday season. This makes me grumpy and bah-humbuggy and convinced that my opinions of the late December season of voracious consumption are right on the money.

Help me feel better, my friends. Tell me about the gifts you gave this year. I

Comments

Highlights

[gunn]

For nemoren: a signed copy of Mary Luddington's The Nature of Dogs.
For my sister: the book Fiasco (which I received free for being an MPR member), a set of turkish tea cups.
For my mother: a beautiful coffee mug made by a local artist and purchased at a local arts nonprofit, and 2 lbs of very good organic fair trade coffee purchased at an independently owned local coffee shop (who roasts their own beans)
For my father: an artist's sketchbook, artist's pencils, a book on Picasso, and a desperate desire that he stop carving spoons.

Re: Highlights

[gunn]

Also, for the sister's boyfriend a wind-up stegosaurus pencil sharpener.

Re: Highlights

[half_double]

What's wrong with carving spoons?

Re: Highlights

[gunn]

Finding places to put 20 oversized, ornately carved, decorative spoons. A lot of them aren't really usable, because he didn't think about the toxicity of what he was staining them with.

[fullygoldy]

For my son: a Gateway desktop, wireless enabled and fully able to handle his online gaming addiction. Way too much money for our usual xmas type expenditure, but the TWO hugs *I* received were fair trade :) He also received an industrial sized container of French's mustard (family joke) and a brown hoodie that says "it's good to be me."

For my daughter: iPod Nano with shiny pink cover, docking station thing and a bottle of her favorite perfume. Not as much expenditure as the boy, but still way more than usual (plus, she gets sole possesion of the laptop they were sharing).

For a friend with a tiny kitchen who doesn't have proper tools: A small paring knife, a 5" santoku and a pair of kitchen shears - all matching, sharp, versatile and small enough to use in her space.

Handmade and hand-filled bottles of mead (3 flavors) for all our close friends are still sitting on the counter, but half of them will collect tomorrow because they'll be here for traditional southern NY dinner.

[half_double]

How do I keep missing that you're a mead-maker? I'll have to pick your brain for tips.

Because I have cats on the brain, I keep reading "a friend with a tiny kitchen who doesn't have proper tools" as "a friend with a tiny kitten who doesn't have proper tools" and thinking why would you want to give a kitten tools? They get into plenty of trouble just with what they came with.

[tygerseye]

I baked cookies galore for my coworkers and my family. Beth and I gave money to the local teen health center. I gave out pictures of M as gifts to the family. I send gifts to my Brain's kids, my goddaughter and her sister, my baby cousin's baby boy and Beth's miracle twin nephews.

That's about it.

[zorpisuttle]

I like this meme. :D

My mom: The Annotated Secret Garden, since she used to be a children's librarian
My dad: Plato and the Platypus, a guide to understanding philosophy through jokes
My little sister: Duck-shaped orange licorice, chocolate-covered strawberry bits, and a Christmas duck stuffed animal (actually a dog toy, so it quacks and plays irritating Christmas music when you squeeze it. :D)
My roommate: A Terry Pratchett book that vaguely relates to what we're learning right now, that nasty finnish licorice she likes so much, and a chocolate snowman
One of my best friends: A t-shirt from a webcomic we both really like (with the added bonus that the cost of the t-shirt supports the webcomic artist, who recently quit his day job to produce the comic full-time)
Another friend: The leatherbound journal he was admiring in a local used bookshop

[jenett]

I didn't actually get to give presents much on Christmas, due to the whole 'luggage getting lost on the way there' part of the equation. But...

I'm smug at getting my brother a mug (handmade, bought at the Wedge) on discovering that they never have enough at home.

I'm most smug at getting my mother a Rose Ensemble CD (my boss is now on the board: they're the earlyish music vocal ensemble in residence at the Minneapolis Basilica: very very excellent music.) The one I got her is the Santiago de Compostella related music, as she's done the actual walking pilgrimage.

I'm also delighted at getting my oldest friend a lovely glass wall-decoration thing that she likes muchly.