Christmas
Merry Christmas, darlings.
I usually don't do a Christmas loot post, because my pile of loot is usually on the small side, but Christmas today was lovely, on a variety of levels.
My aunt made me an advent calendar this year, which she'd done once before, and I just think it's the most delightful idea. It's 24 days worth of little $1-3 gifts, and I think it's amazing because it's like tiny Christmas for every day in December. Some of them involved more forethought than others (shampoo samples? a cheap kazoo? glittery nail files?), but the calendar ended with a $15 Starbucks giftcard (re-gifted to Rachel because I refuse to support evil corporations when I can get much tastier, fair-trade lattes from the little local coffee shops instead), and a $50 "Universal Gift Card - Redeemable in most U.S. stores" (cash), which I thought was infinitely amusing.
Because my aunt had done this once before for me and I thought it was delightful, I made a little advent calendar for Rachel and surprised her with it, which was fun, and then was totally surprised when I got the box from my aunt (the one time she'd sent one to me was 3 years ago, so I wasn't expecting anything).
Work gave everyone a $25 gift card to Downtown Boulder, which is nice, because it can be used at any of the local businesses in the downtown area, which is where I spend most of my time anyway, and yay for local businesses. I'm thinking I'll combine the $25 DB card with the $50 "Universal" gift card and buy myself a piece of jewelry that I'd normally never splurge on. (I rarely buy jewelry, and when I do, I never spend more than $20 on a piece unless I really, really love it -- and then I might spend $30.)
Rachel gave me a ... Microfiber Plush electric blanket, of which I am somewhat skeptical because of this newfangled electric gadgetry, but it is fuzzy, and I must admit I am deeply intrigued by the idea of self-heating fuzzy and I'm going to have to turn off our heat or something just so I can fully enjoy the warm fuzzies.
My father gave me a box of white tea and a little Japanese tea service. At first I was skeptical, because it seemed that his Christmas shopping had been done the day before at some Asian market, but the tea was pretty tasty and I quickly decided that serving little cups of tea over a game of cards while kneeling at our low, Asian-style table was just delightful.
Christmas dinner this year was also pretty exciting. I made this delicious cider-glazed root vegetable stew, which was both tasty and surprisingly easy to make, and a pumpkin pie with toasted brown-sugar pecan topping, with hot mulled cider. Then for breakfast, thanks to Whole Foods, we got gingerbread pancakes with fruit and a tofu scramble with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese, which was easily split into three large portions (I did not tell my father these were yesterday's leftovers).
I have rediscovered my love of jigsaw puzzles, which is always strongest around the holiday season, so my dad and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle (with a little help from Rachel, though she was mostly absent). Then we played Canasta (at which I mysteriously got much better and beat him twice), and I had him teach me how to play Poker (also won at Poker, though it's true he kept betting on hands when he should have folded because he was teaching me how the betting works). I am delighted by my newfound Poker skills and wondering when I'm going to be able to try these out. Maybe I can lasso Eli, Quinn and Rachel into a game, as the three people I'm most likely to get into a room with no other activities planned.
Anyway, yay, and Merry Christmas everyone.
I usually don't do a Christmas loot post, because my pile of loot is usually on the small side, but Christmas today was lovely, on a variety of levels.
My aunt made me an advent calendar this year, which she'd done once before, and I just think it's the most delightful idea. It's 24 days worth of little $1-3 gifts, and I think it's amazing because it's like tiny Christmas for every day in December. Some of them involved more forethought than others (shampoo samples? a cheap kazoo? glittery nail files?), but the calendar ended with a $15 Starbucks giftcard (re-gifted to Rachel because I refuse to support evil corporations when I can get much tastier, fair-trade lattes from the little local coffee shops instead), and a $50 "Universal Gift Card - Redeemable in most U.S. stores" (cash), which I thought was infinitely amusing.
Because my aunt had done this once before for me and I thought it was delightful, I made a little advent calendar for Rachel and surprised her with it, which was fun, and then was totally surprised when I got the box from my aunt (the one time she'd sent one to me was 3 years ago, so I wasn't expecting anything).
Work gave everyone a $25 gift card to Downtown Boulder, which is nice, because it can be used at any of the local businesses in the downtown area, which is where I spend most of my time anyway, and yay for local businesses. I'm thinking I'll combine the $25 DB card with the $50 "Universal" gift card and buy myself a piece of jewelry that I'd normally never splurge on. (I rarely buy jewelry, and when I do, I never spend more than $20 on a piece unless I really, really love it -- and then I might spend $30.)
Rachel gave me a ... Microfiber Plush electric blanket, of which I am somewhat skeptical because of this newfangled electric gadgetry, but it is fuzzy, and I must admit I am deeply intrigued by the idea of self-heating fuzzy and I'm going to have to turn off our heat or something just so I can fully enjoy the warm fuzzies.
My father gave me a box of white tea and a little Japanese tea service. At first I was skeptical, because it seemed that his Christmas shopping had been done the day before at some Asian market, but the tea was pretty tasty and I quickly decided that serving little cups of tea over a game of cards while kneeling at our low, Asian-style table was just delightful.
Christmas dinner this year was also pretty exciting. I made this delicious cider-glazed root vegetable stew, which was both tasty and surprisingly easy to make, and a pumpkin pie with toasted brown-sugar pecan topping, with hot mulled cider. Then for breakfast, thanks to Whole Foods, we got gingerbread pancakes with fruit and a tofu scramble with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese, which was easily split into three large portions (I did not tell my father these were yesterday's leftovers).
I have rediscovered my love of jigsaw puzzles, which is always strongest around the holiday season, so my dad and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle (with a little help from Rachel, though she was mostly absent). Then we played Canasta (at which I mysteriously got much better and beat him twice), and I had him teach me how to play Poker (also won at Poker, though it's true he kept betting on hands when he should have folded because he was teaching me how the betting works). I am delighted by my newfound Poker skills and wondering when I'm going to be able to try these out. Maybe I can lasso Eli, Quinn and Rachel into a game, as the three people I'm most likely to get into a room with no other activities planned.
Anyway, yay, and Merry Christmas everyone.