Clynelish–never heard of that one. So many single-malts; so little time. I should eventually work my way through the other Islays and then branch out to explore representatives of other regions. The only others I’ve had have all been Speyside (Glenfiddich, Macallan).
(ETA: Well, and Talisker, but it’s close enough in character to an Islay.)
I got a waterpik! Been wanting one for years, but the price tag always had me come down on the side of “no.” Yay for clean teeth and no more plackers! Although when I tried it with cold water (saved half the reservoir to use before bed), I about got blasted out of my socks. Never again! Gotta add some hot water to make it lukewarm again.
I got a Saddleback Leather belt, at first I thought it was a bit odd but wow. 1 3/4 inches wide of THICK Mexican hand tooled leather, needs some break in time because it sounds like I am in a saddle as I move about.
Oh, derp! Mom also got me the complete DVD set of A&E’s old Nero Wolfe series, w/ Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin. I am quite looking forward to digging into those over the next few weeks.
We got ourselves a Wii U, I got her the Ducktales Remastered game for it. Massive amounts of tea all around.
And she got me the 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray box set of The Goonies, my favorite movie ever. It came complete with board game, magazine reproductions and storyboards. I’ve been wanting it for a few years now.
I got a new bread machine!!! It can make either one large loaf or two small loaves. The paddles collapse on the large loaf so no more stupid paddle holes in my bread! I’ve been drooling over it for a while now so it’s really nice to have.
I also got 2 very nice sweaters, a bamboo phone charging station, two sets of doggie bookends, a knife block, and a wool poncho.
My giving wasn’t as good as my getting this year. I tried to be thoughtful with stuff I gave, since I couldn’t be too spendy this year. I think the gifts were appreciated.
My parents are really good to me. Glass storage container set, 10" nonstick pan to replace the cheap one that’s now sticky, 10" Wustof honing steel I’ve wanted for a long time, and an exercise bike with mat - all from my Amazon wish list. Plus a check. From other people, Bath and Body Works gift sets of yummy smelling girlie things, one in cherry blossom and one in vanilla sugar, a handmade necklace, a martini shaker, a glass ornament, homemade chocolate covered pretzels.
I got a TARDIS t shirt, a Sandisk wireless flash drive, a couple of model spaceships, a box set of the Horatio Hornblower movies, a ring specially made by my 8 year old nephew just for me, and a lovely metal sign (which, considering I was recently hauled into my supervisor’s office and told the same thing, was extra hilarious to me-I love it!) But the best gift was a big box of pork.
I got:
A wizard’s staff, made with love by my mom! (Well, she picked out and bought the wood, asked me for ideas, my brother-in-law helped cut it, then she assembled, sanded, and stained it)
Three new books
A cool desk decoration with quotes from writers and about writing on it.
Chocolate treats
A 2014 Modern Family calendar
A wireless mouse that works with my Nexus 7 tablet
Itunes gift card that mostly covered three CDs worth of music.
I gave:
Space heater for mom.
T-shirts for brother.
Bath and body stuff for sister, plus gift cards
A book and gloves for brother-in-law
Books and iPhone USB cable for nieces
DVD and Star Wars Lego for nephew
Good gift exchange this year, all things considered. I even managed to stick to my budget okay.
A gift card for a sports massage from my youngest daughter
A new purse and a case of tennis balls from my husband
A set of GoGear silicone travel containers from my girlfriend
…and the best gift of all was our sweet friend, Alice, living through the day. In true Alice form, she waited until the the day after Christmas to succumb to lung cancer. She would have hated to ruin everyone’s special day.
The Complete Rocky and Bullwinkle on DVD, “Tune In”, the first of the three volume definitive biography of the Beatles, the two volume 1971-74 set of The Complete Peanuts, and Season 2 of “Grimm” on BluRay. Among other things.
I got some awesome new Leki ski poles, a monopod and comfy new slippers. Got my wife an iPad mini w/keyboard, some super warm Columbia base layer pants, and lingerie. I’m actually a little embarrassed how much we got the kids this year, and I’m not sure how it happened. A couple weeks ago we were afraid it was going to be a light year, mainly because they hadn’t really asked for anything specific. I think we went a little overboard but will probably stow some things away until Spring, when it will seem new again.
It’s incredible how many gifts my nieces and nephews get. I don’t even buy them anything anymore, but they don’t even notice. Kind of unfortunate because kids are the most fun to shop for, IMO, but I’m never going to outspend their parents and grandparents so I don’t even try.
I got some superhero T-Shirts, Munchkins Booty (a game), candy and socks.
I gave: $150 in acrylic eyes to Madame Pepperwinkle (she makes clay miniature figures); several Monster High dolls to my daughter (she’s 30, but she collects 'em), power tools to my son-in-law, and a Minecraft toy sword and torch/flashlight to my grandson.
My lovely inlaws win the (secret) prize for best present, as they always do: an annual pass to the theatre. I can literally walk into any show I want. Wow, they’re the best!
Best present I gave was a good coffee machine for my parents, a sigh of relief swept the room when it was unwrapped! My granny said: “well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”
Actually, the best present was just seeing everyone unwrap their gifts. I love that Granny immediately put on her scarf and started thinking about where to hang her insect hotel. I love that my papa dove straight into the coffee maker’s “effing manual”. My SO started looking up how to cure his new frying pan, thinking about a nice steak.
The best one is my dog. She knows there is one for her under the tree, and she “helps” every time someone gets something out, just to check if that one is hers. Then you give it to her and stands in the middle of the room and so happily rips off the paper! She does this funny thing with hers ears when she’s very happy…
Presents are little plans for the future. It’s so much fun to be in room full of ripped up paper and ribbons, with everybody fantasising about what they’re going to do with their presents!
I got a Rush DVD, an external drive for my computer, Rocksmith 2014, three little 1000-page Archie digests (hush: Archie comics are a guilty nostalgic pleasure), and a set of snazzy Bose computer speakers.
Christmas was weird this year due to various factors, so the spouse and I just went out the day after, determined a budget, and then pointed at things and said “I want that.” It took the surprise out, but on the other hand, we both got exactly what we wanted.
His parents gave us money which we used to buy a new microwave oven.