Just call me *Super*twinkletoes

[mrissa]

I am wearing sparkly pink Superman socks.

Generally I am opposed to pink. But! Sparkly pink Superman socks! This is different from ordinary pink. Also there are blue ones, which are striped sparkly blue Superman socks. Do you understand? The words "sparkly" and "Superman" have so long belonged in proximity, and now here they are, together at last, gently warming my feet.

I love Christmas.

I am not wearing sparkly pink Superman socks, drinking tea, eating chocolates, and reading the new Michael Chabon book. But I could. Because that's what I've gotten in the mail so far for Christmas. Actually it's only part of what I've gotten in the mail so far for Christmas. For why? Because I am spoiled. In one of the cases, I honestly thought that the box was something I'd ordered for someone else, and I opened it early so that I could wrap it, only to find out that it was all for meeeeee, no wrapping required. The other box I eyed carefully. The return address was a friend. I had not asked the friend to make anything for me to give to anyone else. "Perhaps it's perishable," I said finally. "I had better open it now and not wait, in case it's perishable. We wouldn't want it to spoil. Or, I know! Perhaps she has sent something to me to give to the godkids! I must open it, in case I am to surprise the godkids with it! Won't someone please think of the godkids!"

It was not for the godkids.

I love Christmas.

I have triumphed over four rolls of wrapping paper in the last two days. Three of them were partial rolls leftover from last year. Still, seven at one blow! Er, I mean, four in two days! And I'm not done wrapping yet. Not by a long shot.

Sometimes in years past I've asked what gift you're most excited about giving this year. Each year there are more people on my gift list reading this lj, so I can no longer say what these exciting gifts are. I'm pretty excited about the godkids' presents, though, and the niecelet's, and ksumnersmith's, and a component of what we're giving my grands. And I'm pretty satisfied with other folks' presents in a less exciting way. So what are you excited about giving this year? or, if your loved ones read this lj, whose present?

Comments

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

I have just recently learned to crochet. I am making a goth-ish panda out of crochet for one particular friend, and I just stitched on the face, and it looks totally adorable. I don't know if I can get it finished for the 25th--I'm telling myself I technically have until Jan. 6th--but I am very happy with what I've done so far.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That sounds awesome. A crocheted gothy panda. Wow! I'll bet your friend will be thrilled. I would be.

(This is why I keep telling people I'm really easy to give gifts to. Sparkly Superman socks! Mark Kurlansky books! Crocheted whatsits! It's all good.)

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Won't someone please think of the godkids!"

Oh, never fear. The godkids have their very own box. There just might be a bright yellow Sneech in the godkid's box for one bright-eyed little girl and a water-launched rocket for a certain small boy.

And a rino. We must not forget the rino.

I love Christmas too. I am excited by every single present I give. *g*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am not even a little bit surprised that the godkids get their own box.

Do you want to know what I found them? I will tell you on e-mail if you do. It's all so very cool.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Yes! Tell me before I run off to be productive. :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Should be in your gmail.

[aedifica]

This year I'm making most of the things I'll give. I've thought about doing it before, but until this year I could never think of anything I could make that I thought anyone would actually want. Now that that problem is out of the way, I was very excited to give these gifts in particular:

- Hand-knit wool socks for my father who just returned from southeast Asia to the upper Midwest and is having climate shock.

- Hand-made hula hoops for my mom and sister. I've been hooping for some time and they've each borrowed my hoops a few times because they saw how much fun I have with it; now they have their own, in their favorite colors!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Neat!

I want handknit wool knee socks, but I have been holding off saying so, so that nobody feels like they have to try to actually make me some. I think that less than a week 'til Christmas Eve is probably safe in that regard, though, so I admit it here.

[rosefox]

And here I was just saying on Ravelry that I wanted to try knitting things like socks but ran into the problem that I have no desire to wear them. (My ideal socks are very thin and machine-made.) Obviously it wouldn't happen before Christmas, but the next time I'm in a yarn shop and look longingly at sock yarn and DPNs, I will try to remember that mrissa at one point expressed a non-binding desire for wool knee socks.

What size shoe do you wear, if that's not too personal a question?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Seven anna half. Entirely non-binding! Etc.

[rosefox]

My memory is like one of those things with holes in it, so I may forget entirely, but I shall do my best to remember. *)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If you got me one for Christmas, I promise to only use it for good. Or funny. Good or funny, that's what I try to use my powers for.

[rosefox]

This year's most satisfying gifts to give were the necklace I gave to rosemom--I was terrified that she wouldn't like it, but she immediately threw off her customary pearls and wore it with delight all evening--and the set of A Christmas Carol-themed rubber ducks I gave to a former professor, who called them "the neatest fuckin' thing".

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's certainly an enthusiastic response! Dare I ask what kind of ducks they had? Did they include the Duck of Christmas Past etc.?

[rosefox]

There was a Scrooge duck (not Scrooge McDuck), a Marley duck, a Tiny Tim duck, and ducks of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. They're adorable. There's a good picture here.

The professor in question, when not teaching computer science classes, sings with the Village Light Opera Guild. He also wrote the libretto to Scrooge & Gilbert & Sullivan, which sets A Christmas Carol to G&S's music. I got the ducks in October or so; it was very hard to wait until S&G&S opening night to wrap them up and present them, but oh man, the look on his face was totally worth the wait.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am astonished at the variety of rubber ducks available from clicking on the other suggestions. My land.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

Folkmanis has been bringing back some of their old puppet designs, and Soren and I have acquired one of the praying mantis puppets for his nephew. It's the most darling insect puppet I've ever seen. (We have one, and I might get another for myself, so that we can have mantid conversations.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's lovely. I got Hugin and Munin puppets from timprov this Christmas (he bought them while we were shopping together for other people, so I've seen them already), but Munin is much smaller than Hugin. And is, now that I look at the tag, also Folkmanis. (They didn't know he was Munin. But I knew.)

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

I'm excited about the things I got for flinx, even though they're books and he doesn't have a ton of time to read.

oh!oh! and I got some fabulous dyed wood bracelets for a family friend that I'm excited about giving her, and a wood vase for another friend.

Other than that, I don't have much for anyone. Been a rough year and I've not done the shopping ahead I usually do.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Dyed wood bracelets sound lovely. Did you find them somewhere local, or is it somewhere you could share?

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Well, both. :)

I ran into them at an art fair up north and then found them at the Ann Arbor art fair later when I had money and bought things.

They turn out to be pretty local to me - in Saline, MI, which is just southwest of Ann Arbor. Here's their website: DM Wood Art (http://www.dmwoodart.com/index2.html). If you scroll down, the wooden jewelry is at the bottom of the list.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Nifty!

Truth, Justice, and the Non-Pinko Way.

[jymdyer.livejournal.com]

=v= Superman in pink? I suspect treachery.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly excited about the few handknit items I've made, especially the light kid mohair scarf for my grandmother. I've never knit anything for her before, as she is very picky and NOT the type of person to think something is just dandy because it was made for her. But mom helped me pick pattern and yarn when she was with us for Thanksgiving, so much better odds there (not guaranteed, but still).

I'm also excited about my mother in-law's felted slippers, as I made her a pair last year and she loved them so much she Wore. Them. Out. And then she requested another pair, with a couple of modifications. I went and made them double-thick as well.

Since grandma and MIL are my two toughest present-nuts to crack, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

If you want handknit socks, I can also provide.... especially if you want thick, chunky boot-socks. I could whip those out in a coupla days.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am all about thick, chunky boot-socks, but this in no way should be considered a demand of any kind.

(A coupla days. Dang. I should remember that I consistently underestimate serious knitters.)

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

Speed emerges with the thicker yarn and the smaller feet. Thinner yarn and husband-style feet? Much, much longer.

If I thought anyone were demanding handknits from me, I would suddenly become rather politely deaf. If one is not dealing in sparkles, does a Mrissa prefer purply shades? It seems that purply shades have been popular on Mrissas in the past. Otherwise, preferences shall be most happily entertained, since WoTs prefer to deal in colors that are satisfactory* to the recipient.

Also, a measurement around the ball of the foot and absolute measurement of foot standing on the ground make for the best-fitting socks.

*Family joke: "satisfactory" is a superlative.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

(This is a joke? Lady, I'm from Minnesota. "Satisfactory" as a superlative is a way of life.)

Purply is good. Bluey, greeny, browny, purpley, whatever. No pink. The pink of this entry is an extremely special case. And no yellow. Otherwise I am a quite flexible Mris.

What means "absolute measurement of foot standing on the ground"?

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

(Yes, but when my alzheimers-addled grandfather referred to my then recently-deceased grandmother as someone who had been a "satisfactory wife," it gained an additional layer of wry in our little family circle.)

No pink, no yellow.

Absolute measurement = take tape measure, lay on ground. Place Mrissish foot with heel at 0" and stand (placing normal weight on foot). How many inches to longest toe?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It looks like 9.5" absolute measurement unless I'm morning-addled in some way.

I did it on a ruler, though; I will be borrowing my mom's tape measure for the foot circumference tonight.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

8.75" circumference: I said, "Oh, duh, we have ribbon and a ruler, I'll just put ribbon around and then measure how long that is."

[erickavan.livejournal.com]

i was blessed with the opportunity to give my old insulin pump and supplies to a young woman with type 1 diabetes that had been trying to get one for a long time. to be able to give a 'big' gift to someone, esp. this year when jbru was out of work for so long, and to know it will make a difference in their life- well, i think i got more of a gift out of giving it than she did by getting it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful.

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I think I am most excited over LadySea's present.

[gaaldine.livejournal.com]

I am most excited about the_overqual's gift. He is so easy to shop for and gets so delighted. He's like a big little kid. Hee!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have a coolness for the_overqual, but I'm nervous about whether it will ship in time.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I'm nervous about my dad's second present-- it's a set of Chicago papercraft postcards and isn't here yet. It should be here. Why isn't it here? I don't *have* a backup present idea, and this puts him at half a present, and I couldn't think of anything for him one year.
Sigh.

I think Mom will like her edges-only brownie pan. I know my brother will like his lifting gloves, because he took all the fun out of it and told me what to get (I did the same thing, but I had a much longer list and a lot of open-ended items). I have gotten much joy from-- okay, I tried to do the linky, but she's Kaesa on Livejournal, and the anemone hat I made her-- she seems to like it, and she's told me what my old professors have thought of it, though not the invertebrate zoology one that I expect would matter most.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

markgritter had me worried about my dad's present as well, because he kept telling me it hadn't shipped. But it had. It's still not here yet, so I suppose I shouldn't stop fussing, but it's far more likely to arrive having shipped than if it was still sitting around a warehouse somewhere.

Anemone hat!

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

That seems to be the common response to the hat. I should probably get some yarn and start one for my old research adviser; I'm not sure she's seen it, and she'll probably want one of her own once she does. Or maybe she'd like a squid instead. Hm.