Doom Christmas Gifts 2010

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Since we are going to be in the Bay Area for Christmas, the Queen and I have opened our gifts on our Anniversary.

Time will now be counted in two formats: the days before Apple TV and the days After Apple TV. I've just spent the last couple of hours playing with it and it rocks. This year's gift giving will be the Queen. Much like the iPad you don't know why you would ever need it until it is in your hot little hands.

I also received a blu-ray player complete with the latest two bond films. And a T-shirt with a suitable asocial message.

[Drunk Monk]

One of our freelance contributors sent a nice tin of cookies (very Chinese) to the office. He also sent me this huge Bob Marley belt buckle - bigger than a cassette tape if you remember those. It's really odd because the colors aren't right. Instead of being green and gold, it's more like green and orange. The image is silver, which reads as white in some lights, so it's more like the Irish flag than anything rasta. I'm dubbing it my Bob O'Marley buckle and I can't wait to bust it out at some show soon - NYE for sure!

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

The kids (well, their parents) have blessed me with Belgian chocolates (handed off to the UPS girls) a bazillion bottles of wine (all regifted) one bottle of what might be a good champagne (opened at the close of a successful coach's clinic) gift card for Olive Garden (not given ironically, either) a half-pound of very good coffee, home-made Irish soda-bread and home made olallieberry preserves (super-yummy) and an ornament featuring the Yeti from Rudolph ("Bumbles bounce!"). A mysterious package arrived today, but it is unopened. I suspect a book, however.

[The Queen]

My boyfriend bought me a Nikon D3100 and a blue diamond necklace. I haven't figured out what the necklace does yet -- there's no manual and I can't find a menu button to figure out what the options are. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I'm on vacation today, so I'm planning to read the manual for and start playing with the D3100. Stupid rain, getting in the way of my taking pictures!

Gifts from others include - slippers, a new 12-cup thermal tea dispenser, a heating pad that also vibrates, an 8GB SD Card and a new set of flatware. If we ever again have guests (Ha!) and we ever serve them food (Ha! Ha!) we will have matching forks, knives and spoons. That's good, because there are four spoons missing from our current set of flatware. Don't know how they disappeared. Perhaps the dogs have buried them in the backyard.

[Drunk Monk]

A local taiji master gave me two chocolate santas with two chocolate ornaments.

A local wushu master gave me a $50 supermarket gift card (covers an assortment of related markets but we'll use it for Safeway and a box of Guoyin Laoshan cha (National-top-grade tea from Mt. Lao, which is famous for green teas).

Tomorrow is our secret santa exchange. I know who my secret santa is (the new receptionist that caught PPFY's eye). She's not good at keeping secrets. My ss recipient is one of the Korean seamstresses here, who I've known for over a decade but have barely spoken a word to, as I don't speak any Korean.

[thatguy]

From the Holiday Gift Exchange, I made it out with The Tikinator and ingredients for an "Easy Mai Tai". I had to steal it back twice, and was worried I would get stuck with the battery operated fairy wand, but lucked out as the last person to draw is pregnant and didn't want the alcohol.



Someone else gave me a set of flamingo swizzle sticks (with googly eyes) and some paper umbrellas, so now I'm set to make some foo-foo drinks.

The company gave us each a $50 Chilis gift card. I hear the El Niño margarita is pretty wicked, and who can knock getting hammered at the local shopping mall...

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

I just ate one of those chocolate ornaments. Why, oh why did I do that? Xmas chocolate is the worst. :vom:

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Add a fine tome and two boxes of Godiva chocolate. Xmas choc doesn't hafta suck. Did share the choc with the fencers so that I wouldn't wear most of it home on my thighs.

[El Dingo]

My company gave me a $200 Amazon GC for providing music at all the company parties.

I bought myself the entire Deadwood series on Blu-Ray. I am going to learn to talk like a foul-mouthed Shakespeare and get myself fired.

At our department gift exchange I ended up with a crappy bike racing DVD. Who the hell would even by a DVD that teaches you to race bikes? Isn't that something you would want to learn, oh, I don't know....ON A FREAKIN' BIKE?

Anyway it's not about the gift, it's about the receipt and return policy.

[Drunk Monk]

Office party schwag:
2 lb box of See's candy
The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said Calendar
A losing Year of the Rabbit lottery ticket.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

When am I getting my $200 gift card from my company?

All hale the year of the Hare.!!

[Drunk Monk]

Both of our graphic artists got pocket tools. Tricks got a five pack of swiss-tech devices. Kev got a nice Columbia one. My The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said Calendar came from the airhead receptionist that PPFY likes. She even wrote her name on the package which caused many :roll:. Obviously the notion of 'secret' in secret santa was totally lost on her.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I like her more and more.

Cash gift from the students used to buy the GF and me a very nice dinner out. Got to watch some local church parade that had Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a donkey, some guys on stilts, and some Aztec dancers.

[thatguy]

Add to my list: a really nice shirt, homemade pistachio brittle, raisin bread, and chutney, an iTunes gift card, some cash, and some chocolate from Finland w/lingonberries.

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Breakfast-in-a-box from Harry & David, T-shirt from Germany, three books (including the new Iain Banks) a knit cap, rare-earth magnets (?) in the shape of bb's, a coffee cup. A fantastic breakfast cooked by my older brother, a brief puppy-filled detour to Lynch Castle.