I got a lovely lumpy package from Austin, Texas today! Don’t know who it’s from yet as the sender’s IRL name is on the return address. Will open it tomorrow once I have time to actually breathe.
Anticipation!
That’s a PKG from ATX! Cool, Das Glasperlenspiel, enjoy!
(I have family in ATX, and nearby Pflugerville too. BBQ country.)
Ack! Holy ADD, Batman! Eyebrows of Doom, I was going through the box I had originally used to send all your gifts (before deciding padded envelopes were safer and less expensive), and I found the Clermont Lounge magnet I meant to send you! :smack: My story about Blondie probably made no sense at all to you.
I’ll get it in the mail this weekend. I’ll be, uh, a New Year’s present!
:D. The plastic is UV sensitive so any UV source will turn it purple! Nice detective work. 
Thelmalou, nice work!
Okay, I want to know what this is. I looked up Maneki cat-- it’s one of those lucky cats that waves at you. But the color-changing thing? A link or something, please. It sounds too cool to do without.
Thank you. And thanks, everyone.
I had to check back upthread, you were the one who mentioned imgur.
I have to run off to work right now, but tomorrow I will sign up for that and try to post pics. I hope I will be able to capture the color-changing aspect too.
I meant a link to wherever you acquired this thing. Or is it something you created? Sorry if I’m missing something. Didn’t sleep at all last night. (Long-ish story.)
all these gifts sound wonderful! Alas, I don’t think I can make it to my post office this week I was going to try Saturday they open at 7:30am but I’m working that day. My next day off is the 29th, so hopefully can pick up my package then! (New Yr’s day gift) I will call it.
Today I came home to a great big box of goodies from Sarabellum!
Last night I woke up in the middle of the night feeling incredibly nauseated and just had an awful night. Didn’t sleep much and had a long enough day of work ahead of me today, so today was rough. I came home and wasn’t expecting a package and voila, there it was sitting neatly next to our door inside the screened porch. I’m not generally one that gets super excited about much, but I was genuinely taken by surprise and excited to see this after the day I’ve had. So of course I was going to open it. No way was it going under the tree. I wanted to see what I got!
As soon as I opened the top of the box I was excited because I saw that there were multiple items, all wrapped neatly in different tissue paper. I went for the largest item first, revealing another equally sized item underneath it in the box. The very first thing I opened was a really cool pillow. It is square that is knit like a Christmas sweater or something with a house on the front that says “home for the holidays” and it even has a chimney that stands up on top of the pillow. Pretty cool!
Next I opened the one under it to reveal a “warm & snuggly super soft blanket”. Another great Christmas item! And yes, it does feel super soft.
On the side were the smaller items that were wrapped. One contained a zip lock bag with 4 mini Captain Morgan spiced rum bottles. I don’t drink…except for one time a year and it’s now! I like putting a little rum in my soy nog (egg nog has lactose in it so that’s out). Because I don’t drink we never had any clue what kind of rum to buy and just bought the one with the cool bottle, something called Kraken. So now I have something else to try because the bottle of Kraken has been around for all three Christmases that we’ve celebrated thus far.
I opened another up to find a Christmas door knob hanger with a cute penguin and some jingling bells. (insert adorable penguin emoji here)
Finally, I got two little festive Christmas tins with candles in them. One is cinnamon, the other I’m not sure but it has a nice and clean scent. Oh, and there was a really pretty card in it from Sarabellum.
I saw your message earlier in the thread Sara about the hats and scarves you make and your trepidation over sending one to the guy that you got. I was that guy. I don’t really wear hats and I’ve never worn a scarf as I find any fabric on my neck to be itchy. So your instincts were right in my case, though obviously not for some others, and clearly I would have appreciated the work you put into the creation. However, I just want to say that you really did something that was cool for me/us (including my wife here). We have a tree, and a few little things here and there that we add to as time goes by, but we literally had nothing like what you got us. No blankets, or pillows, or candles, or door hangers, none of that stuff. We clean houses and go to other people’s houses and they often look so much more festive than ours, and now we just raised our game thanks to you! Thank you so much! Our third Christmas ever now has more festive cheer and this stuff will be used every Christmas hereafter.
That is the best! Thank you! I keep worrying that everybody will be mad that I haven’t been participating in the thread and keeping up, and it is so lovely to come back to the thread and see everyone saying nice things and having a good time. I’m having trouble keeping up with life this year. I don’t even have a tree up! I did send out a package on Monday which should arrive tomorrow (two, actually, because someone missed the deadline entirely and I couldn’t reach her to get her squeezed in properly).
Ok, now to update. As always, let me know if it’s wrong, as it is easy to miss things sifting through the threda…
- Slow Moving Vehicle–>Eyebrows 0f Doom
- Baker–> Rhiannon8404
3 ThelmaLou –>Baker - purplehorseshoe–>freckafree
- MissTake–>Sir T-Cups
- FairyChatMom–>ioioio
- swampspruce–>txobbin
- Nayna–>
- **carnut–> ThelmaLou **
- peedin
- FloatyGimpy–>
- vivalostwages–>Silvorange
- **rocking chair–>vivalostwages **
- slightly askew–>
- freckafree
- justanothermike–>slowmovingvehicle
- Kimstu–>Bullitt
18.** ioioio–>MissTake** - Filbert–>kayT
- Bullitt–>Kimstu
- harmonicamoon–>swampspruce
- BeeGee–>
- BludgeonMeSoftly–>purplehorseshoe
- Sir T-Cups–>rocking chair
- kayT –>EmilyG
- **Rhiannon8404 –>FairyChatMom **
- Sarabellum1976–>justanothermike
- Silvorange–>
- Emily G –>Nayna
- Das Glasperlenspiel –>slightly askew
- Eyebrows 0f Doom–>BludgeonMeSoftly
32.** txobbin–>** - smokey78
Received with sender still secret: carnut, Das Glasperlenspiel
Justanothermike, it’s been said before, but bears repeating: seeing how much fun you and Mrs. Mike are having is soooo much fun to witness! When I read your posts, my face just freezes into the biggest smile. 
(Hope you’re feeling better.)
I sent my package quite a while ago but haven’t heard anything from my giftee. Starting to get worried! Also we’ve had a huge storm here and power has been out for over 24 hours. I’m holed up in a hotel (with my budgies!) so it may be another day or two before I get to the post office to pick up my package.
There are two cats! One in the form of a cat-shaped defurrier (always a necessity in this house), the other is a wonderful hand-embroidered tea towel! It features a cheerful kitty multitasking three of my hobbies - knitting, crocheting, and sewing!
Also in the package were postcards of Old South Austin and Jeremiah the Innocent (a well-known graffiti mural in Austin). There was a tin of peppermints featuring another well-known Austin mural, “I Love You So Much”. And a pin with the design of the logo on the old City of Austin Power and Light building.
The cats appreciated the tissue paper wrapping and are parading around the house dragging and bragging about their sparkling chase balls!
Thank you, BeeGee! I love everything! Thank you, Silvorange, for organizing this - count on me for next year!
Me, too! Feeling so sad - can mail really take this long (almost three weeks)? Is it definitely lost? My poor giftee. 
I got a package from Vancouver with cougar snot soap, some cat toys, mints, and something else that I don’t remember because ten minutes after I opened it, I got the news that my mother fell and broke her pelvis. My super rushed trip to west Texas, back to Austin, and now back in West Texas again has erased my memory. After I got here, I discovered that my dad has Alzheimer’s that my parents were hiding from us. So moms in a rehab facility. Dad is in assisted living. And I have about ten days after Christmas to find them permanent assisted living in Austin while my mother heals. The only bright star in this mess is that my parents have agreed to come to Austin where I will be near.
So thank you for the gifts, I will elaborate further when I get home.
Der Glasperlenspiel, I found the gift tag and two other items on my desk after I sent the box, so you may expect a little mid winter blues packet off I ever get home and regain my sanity.
Oh my gosh, I am SO GLAD to hear that! I just had a feeling that a hand-crocheted scarf or hat was not going to be the thing this year.
And yeah, I was imagining a certain lack of Christmas decor, seeing as you’ve not been accumulating that type of stuff for a lifetime. I was trying to include some Christmas-y item to appeal to each of the senses.
The Captain Morgan does make good eggnog. (Haven’t tried soynog yet, lol.) Also try mixing it up with Coke or Dr. Pepper for a simple spicy-sweet something to sip. Always reminds me of the holidays!
Best holiday wishes to you and your wife. Glad you enjoyed your box! =)
Holy crap, BeeGee! Uh … yeah, I got nuthin’ witty. That’s a pile of suck. {hugz}
That’s a fantastic sentiment, but do you have to use the word “witness”? Lol. Just messing around. Thanks for the kind words. It is fun to finally get to experience these things. I see some people get so worked up and have so much drama surrounding the holidays and family and perhaps getting to do this as an adult without strings attached by family that shuns us has its benefits. No toxic drama, just joy. It’s a shame that we can’t enjoy it for the first times with them, but few things are all good or all bad and we try to find the good in life.
Oh and thanks, I am feeling better today.
I got my prezzies!
And oh my WOW, **Silvrorange **sure went all out!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for such a wonderful box of goodies!
Five delicious skeins/hanks of fancy yarn that I would never treat myself to, but I already know exactly what I’ll be making with this gorgeous stuff. It is kind of wine red with filaments of other colors running through it. I’m pretty well-versed on yarn, but I’m unable to immediately identify what kind of blend it is.
And then a box of… chocolate truffles! Oh my goodness, they look and smell amazing! I can’t wait to try some of them.
Some cat finger puppets! An orange tabby, Russian Blue, tuxedo, and Siamese kitties to play with! They’re so adorable!
Apple-pie scented soap, of the hand-made, luxury variety. And a ginger and nutmeg-scented candle.
What a sweetheart you are, Silvrorange, to go to so much trouble for me. I love all of it! You’re the bestest!
I’m so glad you like everything! The yarn is sari silk.