It is 830am here and my kids are *still asleep *. ( They didn’t go to bed last night until 11pm) . I thought I would start this thread so everyone could post what they got and ( more importantly) those who had the patience to wait to open their **Secret Santa ** report here.
Uh oh…my son just woke up…I will check back here later.
Have a great day!
Clothes, clothes, and more clothes…but there is more to come. I have yet to go to my parents place yet. 
The kids were spoiled rotten though. 
A tea kettle, various gift certificates, some lovely winter gloves, two Christmas themed hotpads for the kitchen, a platter of dried fruit(something I adore!), and, from last Sunday’s Christmas party from work, a $50 bonus. My family opens presents on Christmas Eve, so I got all these goodies last night. A decent haul, because I got birthday presents as well, my birthday being on New Year’s Eve. Oh, almost forgot, got a membership in the Audobon Society, an annual present from my sister.
Now the challenge is to go to church this morning and think about the real meaning of Christmas. But I still like gifts.
A drafting table—yea!
Two books—yea!
Slippers—yea!
Scrapbooking calendar—yea!
Coloring book with colors and a Waldenbooks gift certificate taped inside—yea!
Jammies—yea!
And I have to wait until tomorrow to get my SS gift. It was mailed to my mailbox and they’re closed yesterday and today. I get to have another Christmas tomorrow!
:: doin the happy dance ::
Van Gogh Starry Night Umbrella which I have wanted forever.
Wine (www.bullyhill.com) that I adore but rarely get.
A lovely sweater from my Mom. It’s so delicate & beautiful (and purple, my favorite color).
A peasant style, tie-dyed red/black shirt. It’s gorgeous.
Two beaded bracelets and a set of earrings - very pretty.
A coffee-scented candle - mmm, smells so good.
Coffee!
Candy!
And I still have 4 gifts to open when my West Coast Friend gets her lazy bones out of bed & calls me.
And this year is way better than last year for me - and it has nothing to do with material things. Merry Christmas.
My son gave me the Uber Screwdriver with about 2 dozen different changable bits. Which I needed 'cause I can never find the screwdriver I need.
My daughter gave me a Legolas poster.
A friend in California sent me the LOTR: FOTR 4 disk set.
Kids made out like bandits from several of my friends-Josh now glued to the Playstation playing his new games.
Well we did the Christmas thing Sunday and later today I’m going to Grandma’s for another.
I got a mattress and sheets, a bath stuff box from Body Shop of Satsuma scented stuff, gift certificates for Safeway and about 200 cash.
I get a few more presents today, and best of all get a Grandma cooked turkey dinner with all the trimmings! And I get to see my fave cousins.
new Pyrex cookware
Hershey’s Pot Of Gold candy
A really nicely textured throw for the sofa
A thermal carafe coffee maker
And. . .
An MP3 player! Woo-hoo!!
I got:
Candy of various sorts
A pair of black gloves (I call them my Assassin Gloves :))
A book of stupid, yet interesting facts
A pair of red trouser socks
A jingle-bell necklace
Lip gloss - clear
A pink camisole & pajama pants set (for sleeping or “lounging”, and I’m quite the lounger, if I say so myself ;))
A black, sleeveless, hooded…um…well…it’s not a sweatshirt…I dunno.
And there are two gifts waiting for me from my two best friends, as well as probably a gift or two from both sets of aunts and uncles.
I done cleaned up! 
I got:
a rather large quantity of candy
a blanket
a stereo (much appreciated, as the speakers on my old one have taken to buzzing when the bass boost is on)
several CDs (including this one which is apparently the weirdest thing my mom’s coworkers have ever seen)
the extended edition DVD of Fellowship of the Ring
Sims Hot Date
a poster-sized LOTR calendar
money
assorted stuffed creatures and another knick-knacks
And Shirley Ujest? If you were a truly evil parent, you’d buy your children a set of two-way radios, let them open them on Christmas Eve, and then wake up your sleeping children Christmas morning by putting one of the radios right next to their ear in their bedroom and talking into the other one from the living room. I almost decided to stay in bed for the rest of today for that one.
Me and hillbilly king didn’t get anything this year so we could get the kid what he wanted. That Harry Potter Lego train got put together in 2 hours, but the castle should keep him busy all day.
Whew!
We did presents last night at my MIL house last night and the kids raked in the gifts.
My daughter received **Polly Pocket ** and every known combination of that microscopic mini-barbie thereof. I will be vaccuuming parts up for the rest of my life, I am sure. She also received breyer horses up the wazoo, so along with Polly Pocket going into my vaccuum, so will that.
My son got lots of dinosaur stuff ( which I was hoping to avoid…oh well.) and hot wheels. And clothes that naturally got the lukewarm response.
This morning, Santa brought **Bath Time Betty ** a doll that can go in the tub with you. (No…you pervs, it is not some buxom, dark haired vixen, betty) but a baby that sings. And one of those rag dolls with a long skirt that under the skirt is another doll. I have no idea what they are called, but it was a *big hit * with my daughter. And a cardboard doll house from IKEA.
Santa brought more hot wheels and trains and a pop up indoor castle ( from IKEA). And LeapFrog.
I received ( with love from me) a Thermos Coffee Mug and bath salts. And from Mr. Ujest, wood floors and IKEA furniture.
Mr. Ujest received a t-shirt and ping pong balls.( for floor ping pong.)
Naturally, the most favorite toy of all was a **kazoo **. $1.97.
There is a whole pile of other stuff that is squirreled away in the back of the van to be returned that I hope the kids do not find.
Santa was very good to us this year.
Ohhh, I forgot, we got an **Atomic Clock **, which *I will never have to reset again ever *.
Naturally, being a member of the * Paranoid Citizens Brigade *, believe that since this is one of those hot Xmas gifts this year, it will be in a lot of houses and back in Colorado ( where the Atomic Clock Keeper Thingie is) is really a monitoring station for *Them * or *Big Brother * or *The Man *. Take your pick. So, now, one of the above can watch me laze about the couch in my red plaid granny flannel nightgown.
Watch me make *Big Brother * narcoleptic
**Jess ** That walkie talkie thingie is a *fabulous * idea!
I think I will use it for next year.
Nothin!
I get presents on Friday, when my girlfriend gets back
Well, lessee…
[ul][li]Egyptian Arabic grammar book[/li][li]Arabic handwriting book[/ul]–hey, I learned Russian when they were “the enemy”, too…[/li]
[ul][li]John Playford’s “English Dancing Master” - collection of seventeenth-century English dance tunes[/li]
[li]“ABC of Communism” by Nikolai Bukharin[/li]
[li]Yiddish word-a-day calendar[/li]
[li]“Best of Schoolhouse Rock” videotape[/ul]and an incoming gift: Contemporary Eartraining by Mark Harrison. I yam gonna be a musician even if’n it kills me, consarnit![/li]
Couple of joint gifts from the in-laws: a handmade cross-stitch of a chickadee (“one thread over one thread”, as it’s described) and a print of some Civil War scene that Valkyrie digs a lot.
So it’s a pretty good Christmas for the both of us.
I got two pairs of jeans, a pair of boots, two sweaters, a lava lamp, a mobile with suns/moons/stars, socks, “The Jerk” ( I LURVE Steve Martin), one of those candleholders that has a bowl at the top to hold little wax things that melt from the tealights inside it, candles from Yankee Candle Co., a jar of tangerine preserves, and a potpouri thing my aunt made that is basically a glass jar filled with potpouri and christmas lights, and when it’s plugged in, it smells good. I guess people think my house stinks.
I also got to talk to Boyfriend today, who will be getting his Christmas present in February when he comes down. (No, you pervs… I did get him something.)
Some clothes, a CD, a couple of DVDs (including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Jesus Christ Superstar, LOTR: FOTR: SEE), and cash. I didn’t get the running jacket I wanted or the hippie shirt neither. But we did get a PS2 (though only one of us pushed for the idea and yours truly had a very “I’m so totally indifferent” attitude about the thing during the pre-Christmas time), some games for that and a DVD for that too, and sound system for it. So meh. But bah anyways. I didn’t get what I really wanted. Or, I didn’t get enough cash. I don’t know.
A DVD player. One DVD (well, a double DVD: all 64 or so Goofy cartoons put out by Disney, in a metal tin) to watch on it. Several pairs of socks with penguins or ducks on them. A sweater. Some pajamas and pajama pants. From Gunslinger, a “Texas Jigger” shot glass that holds about 12 ounces, and a big set of aluminum kitchen canisters - flour, sugar, coffee, tea, grease (with a strainer in the top) and salt and papper shakers. The canisters are terrific - I’d been looking for a set for a year! The DVD player is also good - it was the only thing I really wanted this year, besides media to watch on it (which I might get for my birthday next Saturday, you never know).
And in my stocking were two packages of candy and an envelope containing a $100 bill. I’m going to set that aside as NYC money for the Dopefest, and the money I HAD set aside for NYC is going to buy me a new TV to hook the DVD player to. (I’ve currently only a 9"-screened travel television meant to use in a car on road trips.)
Lots of jewelry, a wonderful coffee cup from my SS True Pieces, which I really love. Clothes, a goodie basket of treats like cookies and such. LOTR FOTR which I love and lots and lots of other things.
I got a breakup with the woman that I thought I might wind up marrying. Nice.