My holiday 2009 gift list

I record this because my memory is beyond shoddy and if I don't write it down, I will forget it before the month is out. Ergo:

My Holiday 2009 Gift List

• Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Chirstmas: Oogie's Revenge, from my maternal grandparents.
  This has been on my wishlist for years and years; the only way I could convince anyone I did actually want it was to remove it and re-add it so that it had a more recent list date. Seriously. But I don't care! I hear this is a game for hardcore Nightmare fans and I am one, so when I dig my way out of my pile of other games I'm looking forward to playing it.
  
  
• Cloud & Ashes By Greer Gilman and The Burning Girl by Holly Phillips, from my maternal grandparents.
  My grandparents generally buy off my wishlist, which works well—but this year they did a particularly wonderful job. I've been curious to pick up a Greer Gilman book for some time (but she's not the sort of author the library is brave enough to carry) and The Burning Girl I read and loved (and of course reviewed) last year, and now I want to reread it. I borrow most of my books these days, but the ones I itch to reread I know are worth owning.
  
  
• The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson, from my sister.
  Nothing on my wishlist spoke out to my sister, so she strayed offlist and did a great job of it. Dickinson is probably my favorite poet (even if my favorite poem is Eliot's The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock) but I didn't own any printed copies of her poems. This was unexpected and well-received.
  
  
• A foam roller, from my parents.
  You lie on it to compress and massage back muscles. Papa got one from his physical therapist when he started having back problems, and I use it every time I visit home. I was bummed I didn't get one of my own for Christmas, so Papa gave me one a few days after as a belated gift.
  
  
• The Reduced Shakespeare Company: The Complete Works of William Shakeapeare (Abridged) DVD and Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired (Abridged), from my father.
  Papa doesn't quite understand Shakespeare nor my great love for his work, but when we lived in England my family saw an RSC production and we all enjoyed it—so Reduced Shakespeare is a bonding point for Papa and me.
  
  
• Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet: Making Designer Metal Jewlery, from my parents.
  This is a heavy-duty art book that requires tools I don't have; the jewelry-making I've been futzing with on and off lately has been more in the way of wire wrapping and bead stringing. But it's beautiful and should be a good inspiration to have around.
  
  
• Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood, from my parents.
  Like The Burning Girl, this is another novel that I read and reviewed and have been itching to reread. Especially appreciated as I recently bought and read the sequel.
  
  
• Stocking stuffers from my parents: chocolate oranges, chocolate bars, ginger candies, kompeito, little things.
  The Equal Exchange 80% chocolate bar was a bit bland; the Chocolove 77% bar was too light but it was also delicious, a smooth rich flavourful chocolate. Both chocolate oranges were really sugary. But one cannot go wrong with ginger candies and especially with kompeito. Yes, I dislike most sugary foods—but sugar stars are so perfect that they're exempt from all rules.
  
  
• The Likeness by Tana French and The Thing of the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by by H.P. Lovecraft, from century_eyes.
  An unexpected and wonderful gift. The Likeness is a reread (getting the hang of this yet?) for me that I'm eager to get to—I loved both of French's novels. And the other volume completes my Lovecraft collection.
  
  
• Persona 3 and Persona 4 with bonus P4 artbook, from Devon.
  I keep discovering things through their fanart these days and the Persona series is no exception, but the games seemed authentically up my alley—JRPGs with social simulation and a turn-based battle system that have received strong positive response. And you know? They are. I'm taking a break from KH:Re:CoM and playing Persona 3 right now and YOU CANNOT TEAR ME AWAY. This game is absolute crack. I love the characters and the battle mechanics and the storyline has my attention and I play it all day and it is awesome.
  
  
• In the Woods by Tana French and peridot chips (as well as some other stocking stuffers), from Devon's family.
  Another previously read book and the prequel to The Likeness, so I am very grateful to have both. The beads are beautiful; stocking stuffers were nice but too-small socks that I should probably unload on someone else and some Lindt chocolate—now I generally dislike Lindt chocolate, but to my great surprise their sea salt bar is pretty damn good. Still too low in cocoa content (the sugar made me ill, as it is wont to do), but the salt makes it surprisingly flavorful.
  
  
• Bead containers, glass beads, and peridot chips, from Devon's grandparents.
  The trend with the beading supplies is very welcome, peridot chips most of all. Amber and peridot are my favorite stones and while I have a few strings of the former, I had none of the latter before Christmas.

So, yes. Books and games this year, accented by other assorted deisrables. I'm actually really happy with what I received, even if it seems odd to wish for so much material I've already read.

As for gifts given: BlazBlue to Devon, Dante's Inferno and a baking mat to my sister (this seems boring but both of them were good picks), the complete series of Carnivàle for my parnents, and I still have one box that I need to ship out (because I am incredibly tardy and unreliable, as always).

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.