Holiday loot

For some reason - dark and Calvinistic, I'm sure - I never feel that the new year really gets underway until the first official workday. So, by that token and with all sincerity, Happy friggin' New Year.

Sooo...whajaget? Talking holiday largess here.

We're middle-aged folks here at Rancho Waveflux, well past the innocent childhood avarice of the gifting season, and yet it's still fun on some level to talk what Santa brought as long as you don't spend all day doing it. Best perhaps to limit such discussion to one item received - a favorite item - and one given.

So here's what I gave to my beloved wife:

Yeah, that's it up on the wall. I am rather proud of having given this tea light holder thingie (from Pier 1) because it makes a kind of evolution in the things I have purchased for M. Earlier gifts have usually been personal items that I felt she'd enjoy. A pearl pendant. A silver ring with inscribed with images of running kitties. A terry cloth robe with a cat applique pattern just like one worn by Phoebe on an episode of Friends (an item previously known as the Best. Gift. Ever.). But this marked the first time, I think, that I gave M something that was not "merely" personal, something that spoke more to our shared life, our house, our home. She liked it. Good thing too, because I felt considerably outside my set of competencies while shopping for such an item.

And here's what M gave me:

It's an iPod music thingie! Specifically, it's an inMotion iM9 speaker system designed to take the solipsism out of the average iPod experience. Fairly rugged and very portable, it's served me well in the rather specific use I have for music: motivation as I go through the workout down in the gym - cum - laundry room - slash - workshop - aka - basement. Headphones are fine while riding the stationary bike, but are somewhat unwieldy while lifting heavy stuff; now I'm free of them. Excellent.

(The song playing in the photo is "Bim Bam Smash" from the soundtrack of The Bourne Supremacy. It's from the car chase scene, and it is an excellent accompaniment to spinning.)

Feel free to list notable presents from your own holidays, whether given or received.

(Cross-posts are the gift that keep on giving...)