...okay, I'm a few days late in writing this. I actually got my presents from mom on the 21st...so maybe it's more like...Merry Yule, or Merry Solstice, or Merry Whatever....

As part of a new...thing this year, to go with the new house [this is actually my second Giftmas here, technically], and the new camera, and the new site layout, and the new gallery...I took pictures of my present-getting process.

I could be all fancy and throw some random thumbnails in here, but since I'm going to also be putting actual images in this post...I'll be nice and just do a regular link to the album with all the pictures.

We'll start with the boxes where UPS left them. I made an attempt to get a little of our evergreen bush in the picture so as to appear...proper, or something.

...then, I brought them inside, hauled them up the stairs, and put them down on this nice red fleece blanket...again, in an attempt to arrange some sort of festive, seasonal theme. I thought it might be nice, especially for mom. She hasn't seen me in a few years, and these last few Decembers have all been 'opening presents over the phone'.

Then, I arranged another picture, partly to show off my Merry Whatever hat, partly to throw off all these good, giftmasey things I was doing, and partly to include Cthulhu.

Once I finished with my sacrafices to Cthulhu, I was able to claim the mighty scissors and open the first box.

This would be the 10lb box which never actually scanned after Illinois, or wherever the fuck that was....

Ooh. Presents.

And a great deal of bubble wrap paper stuff.

The smaller present turned out to be an incredibly lovely Lilac candle. It smells just like a lilac bush. I haven't burned it much more than a half an hour, total...just the candle being open spreads the smell everywhere. It's not overpowering-strong, it's just...pervasive. And soothing.

This would be the second present -- the Black&Decker LidsOff Jar Opener.

I had to open the box right away and have a look at it. It's actually one of the things I'd asked for -- and it was something my mother was actually going to pick up without finding out whether or not I had one first. She thought it might be very useful.

It very much is. It works nicely on jars of Ragu, which is pretty much all we've tried it on. I'm sure it'll work on many other jars, although maybe not my bottles of soda. I'll still have to ask for help with them on my bad days.

Now, to the second box. The goodies box. Yummy goodies....

Every year, mom sends me my favourite chips from PA [I can't get them out here, unless I want to pay strange, unprofessional-looking websites insane shipping prices for small quantities], some of her chocolate chip cookies, and some of her fudge.

As of last year, mom seems to have taken to putting the cookies in these useful little plastic pails. Last years weren't quite as spiffy as this year's, as they lacked that wonderful green lid.

Of course, the spiffiness of the outer container hardly matters. Right now, it's what's inside that counts. Later, there will be other uses for the pail -- which is probably why mom's doing it this way now.

Then there's the matter of my three pounds of chips....

I'll end this with a picture of Zombi wrapping herself up in the shredded wrapping paper from my Black&Decker Jar Opener, because that just seems proper....