I got socks too, but I’m not complaining, because I always need them. Santa also brought a bottle of single-malt Scotch, some fine English pipe tobacco, and a nice warm sweater. And chocolate.
Okay, that’ really bizarre. Sorry you have to put up with that.
I got an instant pot. 
Also, for the first time ever, one of my kids got me a nicer present than I got him. We gave him a netti pot. He gave me a gorgeous wooden menorah. It’s sort of a large jigsaw puzzle, with each flame a piece, and cuts suggesting the 8 branches and the shamash holder. And it’s solid enough to stand. Because each flame is its own piece, you can mostly assemble the menorah, and then add an additional flame each night. I guess that’s not a great description – it’s not easy to describe. But I like it a lot. I tucked it into the ritual objects cupboard for now, but next year I will put it in my window for hannukah.
Dude…we so need to hang out. Hilarious.
What do you do with more than one Echo Dot?
A deck box for all my smoker and grilling gear. A hot air fryer. A nice 21yo single malt Irish whiskey.
And best of all, a surprise visit from eldest son who lives on the east coast.
You put them in different rooms of the house. I suspect that a large fraction of people who have Echo (dots or otherwise) have more than one.
That is awesome. Few things make me more nostalgic than old Mad magazines.
mmm
For a second there, I thought… 
A new shower head, wine, eye shadow, leggings, and pillowcases. And the dogs gave me replacements for all the books they destroyed since they came.
I think I’ll be getting those this weekend. I’m looking forward to being able to see again!
Trip to Firenze, Italia
Buona Natale
Let’s see:
Tickets to go see Riverdance in a couple of months
A rather larger quantity of cash than I was expecting
A brand-new 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle (the largest puzzles I’ve done to date have been 1999 pieces, which is understandably frustrating)
A bike pump that mounts to the frame, and a pouch for carrying a spare tube
A powered USB hub
A padded, partitioned box for storing my fancier dice
A baby cockatiel. (Actually Adi and Kaiser were responsible for that, but what the hell.)
Yay! But I’m so glad it’s you and not me!
Chocolate and various other sweets, snowshoes, a gift certificate for a fancy seafood dinner, a gift certificate en route for the local Korean spa and sauna, an Instant Pot Indian cookbook, a novel, a check…I am feeling pretty spoiled right now, but that’s OK!
Duh? connect them & color. 
Don’t forget tire levers, a patch kit &/or a spare tube.
What kind?
I got grief & agita. 
Santa brought my wife and me to the dock for our cruise to Mexico, from which we just got back.
I commend all of you on your very grown up presents ;).
I got:
2 Lego buildable Star Wars figures (Jyn Erso and a Scarif Stormtrooper.)
A Lego Yellow Submarine https://shop.lego.com/en-AU/Yellow-Submarine-21306.
A Hotwheels truck for storing cars.
A DIY theremin.
Lots of chocolate (for some reason–I could do without it.)
A Pink Floyd T-shirt
Some plain black cycling bib-shorts.
A calendar with the dates for the 2018 MotoGP and World Superbike championship races.
A bluetooth heart rate monitor.
A new tablet. He said my hints were making him crazy. By hints he means me sitting on the couch pounding on the almost non-responsive touch screen of the tablet he got me 10 years ago and cursing.
You can use them as intercoms instead of yelling through the house. The one in our bedroom is used mostly as an alarm clock. I also get the weather and news briefs on it and it has a nightlight function.
The dining room dot is our all-around go-to for timers, reminders, adding stuff to the shopping list, etc.