For Christmas I got Smoke and Mirrors (with a very cool cover), The Underdog (which comes before Fighting Ruben Wolfe and Getting the Girl, and which I did not know existed), Jane Eyre (this so incredibly cool copy with cool, spooky drawings – much nicer than the copy I have now, which is paperback and I got it when I was eight), a first edition of the letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (so sweet!), Deerskin, and a hardback of The Mummy Case, which is brilliant of course. And then I got Wall*E and Atonement and this movie with Parker Posey called Party Girl and the first Harry Potter film, and Iron Man and Sleeping Beauty and all the first three seasons of The Office (yay!). Also, records – the Shins and Death Cab for Cutie, and some used ones from my aunt, which is not only genius in itself, but also comes with the whole other gift of her having bought them at a record shop I didn’t know existed.
And I got cute pajamas with a cuddly bathrobe, and a really nice lemon-colored shawl, and the most beautiful dress of all time that makes me look tall and slender and not unlike Kate Hudson at the end of How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. And, additionally, a cute new umbrella and a pillow to hang on my door that says “Quiet, Novel in Progress”, and a fold-up bag that fits in my new enormous and wonderful new handbag but then unfolds and you can use it for shopping. And two new shirts, one of which had the Woodstock logo on. Woodstock! And, oh, guitar picks and guitar strings and digestive biscuits.
Phew. I’m tired from writing all of that.
…We really aren’t materialists, but we love giving gifts. My mother says this Has To Stop, and we must all rein ourselves in. I think it’s very unfair for her to decide this right as I am reaching a point in my life at which I am making enough money to get people really nice gifts. I will probably not rein myself in next year. I love buying presents.
Another good thing about this Christmas is that I participated in two Robbers’ Christmases, and both times I ended up with something good. This is partly because my younger sister and coworker were too nice to take away my gifts, and partly because I am excellent at looking nondescript while people are choosing what gifts to steal, and also at pretending to be paying attention to something else, so that they won’t notice me. Now I am going to buy all four series of Doctor Who. My brain explodes at this joyous possibility.
Oh, and another other good thing about this Christmas is that my awesome uncle was there, and so was Indie Sister for an unusually large chunk of the day, and so was my friend Teacher, who I think had a good time and did not react with dismay to receiving gifts from Santa Claus.